We were moving definitively into a more positive era but we were not moving, unfortunately, into an age in which Europe would be permanently stable, and security could take care of itself. In Bosnia, we see how the ancient antagonisms can erupt to threaten the wider peace. A second key judgement that NATO made at the end of the Cold War concerned the importance of creating a new European security architecture. NATO decided that it should help take the lead in building an effective institutional framework in which institutions contributing to European security - NATO, EU, WEU, OSCE, etc. The rationale for a broad view of European security remains clear-cut.
Security is more than just military security.
It is an encompassing concept, and security is indivisible. No one institution can address and solve all of European economic, environmental or security problems. No one institution can satisfy all the requirements of a Europe growing together. Real stability, over the long term, can only be achieved through an effective system of mutually reinforcing institutions in which each country can find its own place and have its say. Yet each institution, each with its own characteristics, should be part of a wider framework which can help keep Europe on the rails and moving in the right direction.