The Helsinki Final Act of 1975 was a major milestone in the development of Europe and the first major step toward the end of the Cold War. A quarter of a century later, Europe is divided again, growing more unstable, and becoming more vulnerable as it slips into anarchy and a new Cold War.
The collapse of relations between Russia and the West after 2014 puts an end to the idea of Greater Europe. The area of common security and cooperation from Lisbon to Vladivostok remains on paper in numerous documents that are gradually being buried in archives. The following disorder has not resulted from a set of circumstances, but from huge imbalances of sovereignty, power, and development that have been eroding the stability of Europe.
Smoke over Yugoslavia, Iraq, Georgia, Libya, Ukraine, Syria. Bombings and spontaneous violence in European cities and capitals. Flows of refugees and migrants. The disintegration of states. Radical Islamism. A language of depression, enmity, and self-congratulatory exceptionalism. Growing uncertainty compensated by aggression in great power politics and everyday life. All the above mentioned evidence points to the objective reasons for that.
The new world will be qualitatively different. It is better to build it today, together, before the logic of history does it for us.
