The Final Recommendations of the Helsinki Consultations, adopted during the diplomatic negotiations held in the Finnish capital from 22 November 1972 to 8 June 1973, define the rules of procedure of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

This article, published in the French daily newspaper Le Monde on 30 June 1973, analyses the positions taken and the agreements reached by the States participating in the preparatory multilateral consultations to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which were held in Helsinki from 22 November 1972 to 8 June 1973.

Organisation chart showing the three stages of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) which are held, successively, at Foreign Minister, expert and Head of State or Government levels, in Helsinki, Geneva and Helsinki from 1973 to 1975.

‘Helsinki - the summit of non-obligation.' According to the German cartoonist Köhler, the final stage of the Conference on security and cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which took place in Helsinki from 30 July to 1 August 1975, was a farce and with no solider foundations than a castle of playing cards.

The third and final stage of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), held in Helsinki from 30 July to 1 August 1975, results in the adoption of the Helsinki Final Act by the Heads of State or Government of the 35 participating countries.

On 31 July 1975, the Finnish President, Urho Kekkonen, gives a speech in Helsinki to open the third and final stage of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

On 31 July 1975, in Helskinki, Urho Kekkonen, President of the Republic of Finland, holds a banquet in honour of participants in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Le 31 juillet 1975, prenant part à Helsinki à la phase finale de la Conférence sur la sécurité et la coopération en Europe (CSCE), Leonid Brejnev, premier secrétaire du parti communiste de l'Union soviétique, se félicite des compromis adoptés par la Conférence après des longues négociations.

The Soviet delegation benches at the third stage of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) which took place in Finlandia Palace, Helsinki, from 30 July to 1 August 1975. Amongst others: Leonid Brezhnev, First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party; to his left: Andrey Gromyko, Soviet Foreign Minister.

Photo taken during the third stage of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), held in Helsinki from 30 July to 1 August 1975. From left to right: Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State, Leonid Brezhnev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, Gerald R. Ford, US President, and Andrei Gromyko, Soviet Foreign Minister.

Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (on the right) and Erich Honecker, Chairman of the Council of State of the German Democratic Republic (on the left), on 1 August 1975 in Helsinki during the closing sitting of the third stage of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

On 1 August 1975, in Helsinki, the Heads of State or Government of the 35 countries participating in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) sign the Final Act, in which they undertake to develop cooperation in areas that fall into three ‘baskets’: (1) security in Europe; (2) the field of economics, of science and technology and of the environment; and (3) humanitarian and other fields.

The Final Act of the Helsinki Conference, held on 1 August 1975, lays down ten principles that the States participating in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) undertake to respect and put into practice in their mutual relations.

In August 1975, after the conclusion of the third stage of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), the French weekly magazine L’Express publishes a special supplement on the Helsinki Summit. Following the coverage of the event, several authors express their hopes and fears concerning this very controversial conference.

In this interview, Leo Tindemans, Belgian Prime Minister from 1974 to 1979, refers to the implications of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) which took place in three stages in Helsinki, Geneva and Helsinki again from 1973 to 1975.