Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO.pdf - Program on Strategic ...

Following the meeting of OSCE foreign ministers
in June 2009, the so-called “Corfu Process” began to
examine European security challenges. By early 2010,
an effort was undertaken in the CFE Joint Consultative
Group to develop a framework document that would
simply contain principles of conventional arms control
which all nations could agree upon. It was hoped
that this would serve as a basis for new negotiations,
<strong>and</strong> in the interim offer each state the option of complying
either with the existing CFE Treaty or the list
of specific requirements described in the framework
document.
At the <strong>NATO</strong> Lisbon Summit in November 2010,
the Alliance reaffirmed its continued commitment to
the CFE Treaty regime <strong>and</strong> all associated elements.
The Final Communiqué noted that although agreement
had not yet been achieved, progress among
the participating states was encouraging. The Allies
further underscored the indivisibility of security for
all parties <strong>and</strong> urged continued “efforts to conclude
a principles-based framework to guide negotiations
in 2011.” They further stated that this process should
build “on the CFE Treaty of 1990, the Agreement on
Adaptation of 1999, <strong>and</strong> existing political commitments.”
While the ultimate goal remained, that is, to
insure the continued viability of conventional arms
control in Europe <strong>and</strong> strengthen common security,
member states further recognized (as noted at the previous
Summit) that “the current situation, where the
<strong>NATO</strong> Allies implement the Treaty while Russia does
not, cannot continue indefinitely.” 21
Despite these lofty goals, little progress was realized
in achieving a framework document. This was
largely due to Russian insistence on disallowing any
language in the framework document recognizing
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