How Not to Talk with Russia
... the European Union ever had a majority of members in this institution. In fact, the OSCE was the first truly pan-European organisation – a factor which has lent it a unique form of legitimacy. Secondly, I clearly recall that in the early 1990s, Russia (and as the Soviet Union in late 1980s) was pushing very hard to transform the OSCE into the central organising body of the new European architecture. The West entertained the prospect of a greater role for the OSCE for some time, but in the end resolved not to give the body even more importance. There were concerns among Europeans that the OSCE might start competing with NATO to be the main security provider ...