West Summit Plan Miffs Some Allies

President Reagan will go ahead with a Western summit on U.S.-Soviet relations this month despite French President Francois Mitterrand’s refusal to attend and complaints from smaller NATO allies left out of the meeting, U.S. officials said today.

The Administration appeared embarrassed by the response from Mitterrand, who is host to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Paris this week, and by today’s demand by Belgium and the Netherlands for a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting at the United Nations on Oct. 24, the date selected for the Western summit.

The two allied countries were not among the six whose leaders were invited by Reagan to attend the U.N. meeting to discuss the summit between Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva in November.

An Administration official who asked not to be identified said it is doubtful whether a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting could be arranged at such short notice. But other officials said the Administration is seeking ways to meet the concerns of other allies irked at being left out of the pre-summit talks.

Cruise Missile Concern

“Some way to meet the concerns of the Belgians and the Dutch is under consideration,” the official said.

The official acknowledged that the two small allies are miffed, adding: “We want to defuse this.”

Belgium and the Netherlands are each scheduled to deploy U.S. cruise missiles to counter a Soviet buildup of missiles aimed at Europe and thus have a vital interest in the Reagan-Gorbachev summit.

Noting Mitterrand’s rejection of Reagan’s invitation and a statement by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that she had not decided whether she could go to the United Nations, the official said:

“You can see the difficulties of arranging a meeting of seven countries. Just imagine how much more difficult it would be to arrange a meeting of 16 (members of NATO).”

Confusion on Arrangements

U.S. officials acknowledged confusion over the way the proposed allied summit was arranged and announced.

The White House said Monday that the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, West Germany and Japan would hold the meeting to discuss the U.S.-Soviet summit.

The official White House announcement was made only after a West German spokesman said the meeting was being arranged.

Mitterrand reacted swiftly with his rejection of Reagan’s invitation, and the U.S. official said that much of the confusion arose from the premature announcement in Bonn.

“Our hand was forced into releasing information early because of the leak and before the arrangements were complete,” the official said.