Dutch, Belgians Decry U.S. Snub on Talks

Belgium and the Netherlands on Wednesday protested President Reagan’s decision to exclude them from a summit meeting of Western leaders later this month, but U.S. officials said that plans for the meeting will not be changed.

French President Francois Mitterrand has already rejected Reagan’s invitation to the summit, embarrassing the White House, and the Belgian-Dutch complaint appeared to worsen the U.S. predicament.

The two small North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations, expressing their displeasure, called for a conference of alliance foreign ministers in New York around Oct. 24, the date and venue of the hastily arranged summit.

Diplomats said the move reflects widespread concern among smaller NATO states over being excluded from an inner circle of major alliance governments. One called it “a revolt of the little people.”

Reagan has invited to New York the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, Canada, West Germany and Japan to discuss his scheduled talks in November with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Frans van Daele told reporters, “While Belgium believes it is useful to consult Japan, it is nevertheless of the opinion that NATO remains the appropriate forum for examining East-West relations.”

Letter to Shultz

He said that Foreign Minister Leo Tindemans, in a letter to Secretary of State George P. Shultz, had asked for the meeting of NATO ministers. He said Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek was shown the letter and agreed with it.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said a meeting of NATO ministers is under consideration, but a government official who asked not to be identified said it is doubtful that a session could be arranged on such short notice.

Redman also said the United States will communicate with France through diplomatic channels in view of Mitterrand’s inability to attend the New York summit.

One U.S. official acknowledged that Belgium and the Netherlands were miffed over being left out of the New York summit and said, “We want to defuse this.”

Noting Mitterrand’s rejection of Reagan’s invitation and a statement by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that she had not decided if she could attend, another U.S. 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).”