Minister Eide's remarks at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Malta

Thank you to Malta for being such good hosts, administrators of the organization and congratulate Finland and wish them good luck for the next year, which is a very important year, 50 years after the Helsinki Final Act.

I would also like to welcome the willingness of Cyprus to take on this role in 2027 and since strong rumors are that Switzerland is considering the role for 2026, I would also say that that would be warmly welcomed if that is advanced, so that we can also arrive at a decision on the year after next.

Let me also say that I much appreciate that we have now achieved agreement on the four top offices, I look forward to working with them, I echo what Anna-Lena just said about Greek-Turkish cooperation in that context as a good omen, something to learn from. I happen to have a good experience working closely with Mr. Feridun Sinirlioglu who will be the new Secretary General, he will be of course adopted tomorrow but I can give him the warmest of recommendations after having worked closely with him.

Then to the situation at hand: we are now at Europe’s darkest hour. The world looks very different from what we were hoping in 1990 or 1995 where there was an idea to offer an opportunity to all European states including the Russian Federation to move forward and become good members of this great family, and to agree on some shared principles of action. And I thank Elena who were reading up the 10 key principles from the Helsinki Final Act. It was quite remarkable to sit here and listen to the foreign minister of the Russian Federation talking about some of these principles, sovereign equality of states, non-interference in the affairs of other states and good faith. The honest truth is that the Russian Federation is violating every single one of these principles. And not only the principles of the Helsinki Final Act but also of the UN charter. Because the number one rule of international affairs, the number one rule is: thou shall not invade and occupy other countries, thou shall respect the sovereign equality, thou shall respect the territorial integrity of other states and that is exactly what Russia is not doing, so that was like a testimony from a parallel universe but nobody will be fooled by this, we know of course exactly what is going on. Ukraine shall win and will win this war. We are many countries standing up in the support of Ukraine in its heroic struggle for, not only its own independence but also for standing up for the principles we all share. This matter to Ukrainians but it matters to Norwegians and to so many others in this room.

But after Ukraine’s victory, we also need to think about what the new post-war era should look like, because after wars the world never looks the same as it did before a war. So as we move into the 50th anniversary of Helsinki and as we have again a Finnish presidency and we will once again meet in Helsinki it is important to think about what has happened since both 1975 and what has happened in 1990-1995. The world looks more like the world of 1975 than the world of 1995, but in many ways its worse because we have a hot war in Europe not a cold war in Europe, which was also a painful experience but different from what we see now. So it is important that we build on what we have, that we strengthen this institution, that we take with us the key ideas that led us through the conference but also the institutions that came in when we made this into an organization. But to think out of the box and to reflect on how we will use the tools to not only to stand up for principles but also to shape the new post war era in Europe because wars end, this war will end, and we need to think about what follows after that.

Towards the end I want to also mention Georgia. I am like many of my colleagues alarmed by the news that we are seeing these last days out of Georgia. I condemn the use of brutal force by police and security forces against protesters, media workers, civil society and opposition persons in Georgia. The scenes we have been witnessing are clearly incompatible with European and Euro-Atlantic integration, and with the fundamental democratic values that Georgia has committed to. We want Georgia as part of our family, we want to support Georgia on this path to becoming a good member of Euro-Atlantic integration, we are willing to help but we cannot see this continue in this form and we have to be very clear on this.

And again, I want to thank you for the attention, and I would again thank Malta for what they have done here and look forward to cooperating also with the Finnish Chair-in-Office on a year which will be really important for the future of our continent. Thank you.