ABSTRACT
The state of the relations between the Eastern and Western states participated in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) distinctly departs from the standards expressed in the form of principles and recommendations in the CSCE Final Act, and in many instances is an outright denial of them. During the preparations in Helsinki and Geneva for the CSCE Final Act, the work of the Conference was treated as the crowning stone of a whole series of bilateral agreements and relaxation of tension in East-West relations. The multilateral process initiated in Helsinki was the most comprehensive and ambitious attempt to harmonize the conflicting interests of states from the East and West and to replace the confrontational and hostile posture by a cooperative. What is important in the CSCE process is that the participating states have given priority to their common interests over the differences which divide them.
