The original CFE Treaty was negotiated among the then-22 member states of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. At the time the Treaty was signed in November 1990, a key goal of the agreement was to replace military confrontation with a new pattern of security relations among all States Parties and establish a secure and stable balance of conventional armed forces in Europe at lower levels than heretofore based on peaceful cooperation and thereby contribute to overcoming the division of Europe. To accomplish this the Treaty sought to eliminate the capacity of either side to launch a surprise attack or initiate large-scale offensive action through verifiable reductions in key categories of conventional military equipment. The Treaty provides for the first time in European history verifiable and legal parameters on the conventional armaments of the States Parties’ ground and air forces within the area of its application. The Treaty has been successful in achieving its objectives and maintaining them since its entry into force in 1992. It has become and remains the cornerstone of security and stability in Europe, both in terms of the reduction of tensions relating to accumulated weapons through arms control at the regional level, and of greater stability through confidence building, transparency and information exchange among States Parties to the Treaty. It also reaffirms the principle that foreign forces can only be stationed on the territory of a member of the Treaty with that State’s free consent. The Treaty has further proven its viability despite periodic stresses and changing circumstance. How it accomplished this is elaborated in the following paragraphs.
Requiring major reductions, the Treaty specified, for each group of States Parties, limits on holdings of major weapons systems in five given categories, i.e. battle tanks, armoured combat vehicles, artillery systems, combat aircraft and attack helicopters. These limits were established in regionally differentiated areas. The Treaty also provided for a detailed information exchange and verification regime. Throughout its area of application, from the Atlantic to the Urals, it has secured the reduction or destruction of about 60,000 pieces of equipment of types limited by the Treaty since 1992. The destruction of equipment by States Parties has continued on a voluntary basis even after the completion of the reduction period. In addition, the equipment holdings possessed by the States Parties today are largely below the ceilings authorized by the Treaty. The current levels of holdings of the principal CFE-Treaty Limited Equipment have confirmed this success: under 25,000 battle tanks for a limit set at 40,000; under 45,000 armoured combat vehicles as against the authorized capacity of 60,000; under 29,000 artillery pieces whereas 40,000 are possible; under 2,000 attack helicopters and well under 8,000 combat aircraft for respective authorized ceilings of 4,000 helicopters and 13,600 aircraft. The reductions in major weapons systems have virtually eliminated structural offensive capabilities that had previously existed and created a secure and stable balance of conventional armed forces in Europe.
The Treaty also established transparency and cooperation concerning conventional heavy weapons on an unprecedented scale. This includes a mechanism in which CFE States Parties could gather information by on-site inspections in order to assist in verifying compliance with Treaty provisions. Close to 1000 inspections among States Parties have been conducted since the Treaty's second Review Conference, over 3500 intrusive inspections have been conducted overall.
The Treaty is complemented by "The Concluding Act of the Negotiation on Personnel Strength of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe" (CFE 1a) of July 1992. This agreement resulted in the substantial reduction of armed forces and since 2001, over 700,000 troops have been withdrawn. Presently there are less than three million troops in the area of application with an authorized ceiling of over 5.7 million.
The CFE Treaty continues to serve as the cornerstone of security and stability in Europe, and it must be borne in mind that it was negotiated during a period of fundamental political change which marked the beginning of a new era of cooperation on security and disarmament issues in Europe. To reflect these changes, the Adapted CFE Treaty was signed by Heads of State and Government in 1999. Once it enters into force, it will create a new and even more transparent arms control regime and bring the current CFE Treaty into line with the contemporary security environment. Committed to our shared principle of the indivisibility of security, Allied nations have consistently stated their readiness to move forward on the ratification process for the Adapted CFE Treaty once the remaining commitments made at the 1999 Istanbul Summit on withdrawal of Russian Forces from Georgia and Moldova have been fulfilled. We continue to call upon Russia to fulfill its remaining commitments.
The CFE Treaty has proven to be an essential contributor to the establishment of mutually-beneficial and cooperative military relationships among the States Parties. It has also demonstrated its ability to be an important tool for security dialogue and confidence building which has contributed to greater Euro-Atlantic security and stability, helping to establish a new culture of mutually cooperative restraints in Europe. The Treaty is a notable example for security and military cooperation in other fields and for other regions and an important contribution to arms control efforts that cumulatively enhance transparency, confidence and trust.
