In 2025, 50 years will have passed since the Helsinki Summit of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). In 1975, during a few hot summer days in the midst of the Cold War, 35 heads of state and government came together in the Finnish capital and signed the Helsinki Final Act. The document outlined an important set of principles and confidence-building measures to improve security and covered a broad list of areas for cooperation, from the economy to science and technology and from the environment to human contacts.
The Helsinki Summit’s CSCE was a turning point in East-West détente. At the time, some criticized the conference for confirming Europe’s post-war division. Yet the Helsinki Final Act turned out to be anything but a final act. A little more than a decade later, the process that started in Helsinki, its letter as well as its spirit, was a crucial factor in overcoming that very division. Rather than solidifying the status quo, it spurred a dynamic change for the better.
