TURMOIL IN THE EAST BLOC : Bonn Stalls EC Allies, Boosts E. German Ties : Europe: West Germans put off a landmark border treaty while setting up an economic coalition with their neighbor to the east.

West Germany sent an unsettling signal to its partners in the European Community on Thursday by postponing an agreement with its closest Western neighbors while at the same time moving toward a closer new relationship with East Germany.

The West German government announced that it was holding off on concluding what had been called a landmark treaty that would eliminate border controls with France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Later in the day, in East Berlin, the West Germans disclosed that they are setting up a joint economic commission with East Germans to explore such matters as trade and investment.

“This is the first time,” a foreign policy analyst commented, “that West Germany has allowed East German considerations to take precedence over European Community considerations. It could be a worrying precedent.”

The analyst, asking not to be identified by name, said: “The West Germans keep saying they are firmly embedded in the West and its institutions, but actions speak louder than words.”

In much of the West, the Bonn government is being carefully watched to see if developments in East Germany lead it to focus its attention on the East to the detriment of Western relations.

The so-called Schengen Treaty, named for a frontier town in Luxembourg, was to have been signed today. It anticipates a phasing out of border inspections, increased police cooperation and a common policy on travel visas and ways of dealing with people seeking asylum.

The treaty was to go into effect in mid-1991 and was widely regarded as a model for a broader agreement among the 12 countries of the European Community, which plan to do away with border controls in 1992.

West German officials were uncommonly reticent about their reasons for delaying the treaty. They would say only that the signing had been postponed.

But Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers of the Netherlands, addressing Parliament in The Hague, said that West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl wanted the delay in order to permit discussion of how developments in East Germany might affect the treaty.

Kohl reportedly was persuaded by members of his Parliament to delay the signing until it is made clear that East Germans have the same freedom as West Germans to travel within the countries involved.

West Germany’s constitution does not recognize a separate East German state, and East Germans are treated for all practical purposes like West Germans. This has given East Germany de facto status as a member of the European Community, able to ship its goods duty-free into West Germany and from there on to the other 11 member countries.

West Germany’s partners in the Schengen Treaty are concerned that, if East Germany is included, undesirables might use East Germany as a way into West Germany and on into their countries.

An agreement on the joint economic commission was reached at a meeting between the West German minister for economics, Helmut Haussmann, and three East German officials, Prime Minister Hans Modrow, Foreign Trade Minister Gerhard Beill and Finance Minister Christa Luft. It is expected to be ready for signature when Kohl and Modrow meet next week.

It calls for closer economic cooperation between the two Germanys as East-West barriers come down. According to Haussmann, 40% of West German companies have expressed interest “in investing or cooperating in East German economic development.”

East German spokesman Wolfgang Meyer told reporters in East Berlin that the Kohl-Modrow meeting will be “of extraordinary significance for our country’s economic development.”