The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. 1 August 1975. Détente in Europe as an Opportunity to Overcome Cold War Divisions

International détente was designed as a project to preserve bipolarism, but in Europe it also expressed instances of changing relations between the blocs, and even the hypothesis of a slow termination of the Cold War (foreshadowing major domestic consequences). This chapter studies the widespread perception in Italy of the new framework of international relations and the subsequent political elaboration by the governing centre-left majority and the political opposition, to both Left and Right. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, 1973–1975) was a decisive step in this process.