I don’t think anyone in diplomatic circles is actually concerned about this document, but the Labour Party does occasionally bring it back from the dead to harp about neutrality. The document should not serve as a reference for any foreign policy of today because its context was completely and radically different from today’s reality.
The Helsinki Final Act, signed on August 1, 1975, during the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was aimed at fostering ties between the West and the communist East. Even then, the document was criticised as a performative, rather than material and today serves only as a historical reference and artefact.
Genocide and belligerence in the Mediterranean Sea can’t be stopped with condemnations and treaties, and not even by sanctions. Europe has to be capable to actually wield material power in the Mediterranean to ensure its security and the whole region.
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