NATO Ministers Agree to Boost Political Role

NATO foreign ministers, responding to proposals by Secretary of State James A. Baker III, agreed Friday to take the 40-year-old alliance into more purely political areas, especially as a Western big brother for the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe.

The officials also approved a U.S. proposal to permit unarmed Warsaw Pact aircraft to fly over the territory of North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries in search of suspicious military activity.

They issued a communique approved by all 16 foreign ministers that made only passing reference to the alliance’s traditional role as a deterrent to Soviet aggression and concentrated on new opportunities for East-West cooperation.

“We stand at the threshold of a new era in which the democratic values which are at the heart of our alliance and part of the European heritage are increasingly shared throughout the Continent,” the communique said.

It added that if the Soviet Union continues to permit the former satellite powers to pursue economic and political reforms, “the possibilities for increased mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries of the East and the West will substantially increase.”

NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner said: “The values that will shape the world in the coming decade will be democratic values. The world looks to us for inspiration and for practical assistance.”

Baker came to this two-day meeting seeking just such a declaration. In a speech Tuesday in West Berlin, he called on NATO to adapt itself to a world of receding East-West tensions.

The U.S. mission to NATO acted quickly to underline Baker’s success. In a rare written analysis of the NATO communique, the U.S. delegation said the foreign ministers’ decision to expand the alliance’s political function “keyed off the secretary’s Berlin speech.”

Baker sought to enhance the NATO role as part of a larger effort to make sure the United States remains an active participant in Europe in the years ahead. Later in the day, top European Community officials agreed to another of Baker’s proposals: close and regular consultation between Washington and the Brussels-based community.

Jacques Delors, president of the community, brushed aside suggestions at a press conference that Europe had succumbed to an American demand.

“If we can establish a framework that allows countries that share the same democratic values to work together, I think that is something to be satisfied about,” Delors said.

At Baker’s suggestion, the European Community officials agreed to visit Washington next year for talks with Baker and other Cabinet officials. Previously, Cabinet-level U.S. contacts with the community have been in Brussels, where, like Friday’s meeting, they were timed to coincide with NATO meetings.

Neither Baker nor Delors provided any details on how the U.S.-EC ties will work. Baker had suggested in Berlin that the links might require a treaty, but he said Friday that this would not be necessary.

The NATO foreign ministers provided few specifics of their view of the future. And they cautioned that the Soviet Union and its allies still have a long way to go before they can be classed as democratic.

“In many instances, basic rights are still denied and the pace towards genuine democracy is uneven,” the communique said. “Furthermore, we cannot ignore the military realities that our alliance continues to face and which lie at the heart of Europe’s security problems. Important differences remain with the Soviet Union over various regional conflicts, affecting opportunities for overall progress in East-West relations.

“For the foreseeable future, there is no alternative to the alliance strategy of deterrence for the prevention of war, based on both nuclear and conventional forces.”

However, the foreign ministers called for relaxation of Western export controls to facilitate Western investment in East Europe. Baker said the provision was intended to permit the sale to East European countries of advanced technology that is “available off the shelf” elsewhere. He said present export controls sometimes produce “bureaucratic foot-dragging.”

The foreign ministers issued a detailed list of alliance objectives for the NATO-Warsaw Pact talks on “open skies” scheduled for February in Ottawa.

President Bush proposed last May that the nations of the rival alliances permit aerial surveillance of their territory to strengthen confidence and to prevent surprise military programs.

NATO’s bargaining position calls for a quota system in which the United States, the Soviet Union and other unidentified “larger states” would be expected to permit several flights a month over their territory while smaller nations would be required to accept only one overflight every three months.

With an eye on longstanding tension between NATO members Greece and Turkey, the NATO plan would not require any country to open its skies to surveillance by a member of the same alliance.

The plan permits the use of cameras and electronic sensors on overflights but bans equipment used to intercept radio or telephone communications.

“Openness has become a central theme of East-West relations, and the past few years have been marked by important advances in areas of confidence-building and arms control,” the NATO statement said.

The plan calls for inspection flights to cover a nation’s entire territory “without other limitations than those imposed by flight safety or rules of international law.”

Flights would be made by fixed-wing aircraft that would cross from predetermined entry and exit points. The crew of an observation plane would be required to file a flight plan, and the actual flight would take place 24 hours after the plan was filed.