2 Germanys Disagree on Unity : Stumbling Block Is Neutrality

East Germany’s reform-minded premier called today for the reunification of Germany as a neutral federation with a single government and a capital in Berlin.

Hans Modrow made the dramatic statement two days after he returned from talks with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Moscow, telling a news conference that “Germany shall again become a unified fatherland of all citizens of the German nation.”

But West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl rejected Modrow’s proposal for a neutral united Germany that would belong to neither the Warsaw Pact nor NATO.

“A united Germany in the heart of Europe cannot be allowed to have a special status or be isolated,” said Kohl, who has been receptive to the principle of reunification of East and West Germany, which have been separated since the end of World War II.

Kohl said West Germany will delay discussion of the reunification process until after elections are held in East Germany in March.

Modrow’s statement was the first direct call for reunification by an East German government leader and follows growing domestic pressure for it.

The premier, at a news conference in East Berlin, dubbed the plan “for Germany, united fatherland,” a slogan that has been the rallying call for hundreds of thousands of East Germans demonstrating in favor of German reunification in recent months.

Modrow said the two nations should first sign a treaty regulating their relations, then form a confederation and finally a federation with the creation of a single parliament and a new constitution.

The proposed capital of the new government would be in Berlin, Germany’s former capital, which has been administered since World War II by the Allies--the United States, England, France and the Soviet Union.

Modrow also said a reunited Germany should be a neutral state, no longer aligned with military blocs.

“One can assume that during the confederative process both German states will gradually loosen their commitments to third countries and achieve the status of military neutrality,” Modrow said.

Officials in Bonn have said West Germany will remain firmly in the NATO alliance.

Modrow stressed that he was proposing a “conceptual” framework for eventual reunification and not a timetable.

“We must be cautious and we must not put down any time limit if we want to move forward and address the issue,” Modrow said.

Modrow also said it is time to resolve the legacy of World War II and called on the Allies to end the division of Europe that followed the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

“The four powers should declare a readiness, during the process of German confederation, to resolve all of the questions that resulted from World War II and after, including the continued presence of foreign troops on German soil and the affiliations of the military alliances,” Modrow said.

Western experts estimate that there are 350,000 Soviet troops in East Germany while NATO forces number about 400,000 in West Germany.

Modrow said he plans to discuss his proposal with Kohl during a visit to West Germany later this month.