Thatcher and Kohl Clash Over German Reunification : Europe: Bonn wants to start the process now. But London favors waiting at least 10 years.

West Germany and Britain staked out sharply different positions Monday on the pace of German reunification, setting off the first full-scale debate in the Atlantic Alliance on the future of Central Europe.

As the collapse of East Germany’s Communist regime pushed the German question to the top of the alliance’s agenda, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher clashed politely but firmly over how quickly the allies should press for German reunification.

Kohl, speaking at a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders gathered to hear President Bush report on his weekend meeting with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, reaffirmed his recent proposal for early confederation by East and West Germany.

The chancellor said, as he has before, that the end result could be to erase the border between the two Germanys as long as the process was “peaceful and in common agreement.”

“I am putting no timetable on this,” Kohl emphasized, but he made it clear that he wants to get the process started now.

Thatcher responded crisply that any such talk is premature.

“There should be 10 to 15 years of full democracy in those countries before anyone should consider changing borders,” a British official quoted her as saying.

Asked about her position, Thatcher confirmed the exchange and added, “You just have to make certain that the situation (in East Europe) lasts.”

The issue of German reunification is one of the touchiest in Europe, in part because some countries fear that a unified Germany would become the economic and political giant of the Continent.

The Soviet Union and East Germany have both said they believe any discussion of reunification is premature.

The testy dispute touched off what Kohl described as “the first debate we have had on this difficult topic” among the allied leaders. He noted that some of the allies “have strong emotions on the subject.”

It also left President Bush and the United States in an uncomfortable position, torn between its two most important European allies. Bush, outlining U.S. policy on German reunification, struck a position somewhere between the two.

“Of course, we have all supported German reunification for four decades,” he said, according to a text of his statement made public by the White House.

But he added several notes of caution: that reunification should “come in the context of Germany’s continued commitment to NATO” and that it should be “peaceful (and) gradual.”

Bush added, in what appeared to be a gesture to Thatcher, that reunification should take place “with due regard for the legal role and responsibilities of the allied powers.”

Bush’s position appeared to please Kohl more than Thatcher.

“I am grateful to the President for offering understanding and support for our position as Germans,” Kohl said, noting that Bush had explained Bonn’s position on reunification to Gorbachev at Malta.

Thatcher responded more coolly to Bush’s statement.

“It seemed to have been very carefully prepared,” she said. “There is lots of meat in it, which we must study before replying.”

Kohl, in a lengthy news conference, said that the NATO meeting, for him, was dominated by the reunification issue, not Bush’s report on the meeting in Malta.

He said there was “full agreement” on the basic points that German reunification is desirable as long as Germany remains integrated in NATO and the European Community.

He said there was considerable debate on his proposal for reunification.

“Obviously,” he said, “there are a number of chiefs of government who find this plan understandable and appropriate, and others who . . . harbor some reservations.”

But he noted that President Bush and French President Francois Mitterrand have given public support to his policy.

Bush said that at Malta, Gorbachev expressed the same desire for caution.

“He has very constructively talked about peaceful change,” Bush said. “ . . . I think his hope is that people don’t try to set up some artificial calendar . . . by which reunification should happen. And I think he feels that, if there were outside forces setting dates on something like that, that would complicate the way in which he is helping manage the change in the (Warsaw) Pact.”

Bush outlined a U.S. policy on Germany’s future with four points:

“Self-determination must be pursued without prejudice to its outcome.

“Unification should occur within the context of Germany’s continued commitment to NATO and an increasingly integrated European community,” and taking into account the legal responsibilities of the wartime Allies.

“In the interest of general European stability, moves toward unification must be peaceful, gradual and part of a step-by-step process.

“Lastly, on the question of borders, we should reiterate our support for the principles of the Helsinki Final Act.” This accord, signed in 1975, allows for changes in European borders as long as they are peaceful and agreed to freely by the countries involved.