New Kind of German Problem

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev now publicly accepts the eventual reunification of the two German states. East Germany’s Prime Minister Hans Modrow has gone Gorbachev one better. He says he not only favors reunification but regards it as inevitable. A year ago it would have been unthinkable, even politically suicidal, for a Soviet or East German leader to forecast the disappearance of the German Communist state. In so many words, that has now been done.

This week’s momentous shift in attitudes lends even greater urgency to the basic and overriding questions of when and under what conditions the two Germanys will recombine. Modrow speaks of a step-by-step process, with “the cooperation of the four Allied powers and in the interests of all European states.” That approach, which internationalizes the reunification issue, is not at odds with the carefully considered views of the United States, Britain and France. It even echoes some statements expressed by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Reunifying Germany isn’t a simple mechanical matter of removing border barriers, issuing a single passport and bringing 78 million Germans under the same tax system. It is--at least if it is not to be a chaotic and destabilizing event--an enormously challenging process, re-quiring agreement on the most complex military, economic and political issues.

It’s no secret why Gorbachev and Modrow spoke out as they did this week. East Germany is in crisis, its labor force being steadily depleted as 2,000 or more of its citizens each day flee to the West, its living standards falling as the economy slides grimly toward a negative growth rate this year. National elections have been moved up from May to March 18 in an effort to quell mounting unease and persuade East Germans to stay put. There won’t be any Communists running in that election; the party this weekend will officially start styling itself as Democratic Socialist.

Kohl says he will meet with East German officials after the election to start talking about reunification. One area of disagreement looms large. West Germany says a reunified country must remain within NATO, something most West Europeans and the United States understandably favor. Modrow, no doubt reflecting Moscow’s view as well, says a new Germany must be neutral and nonaligned. That’s a sample of the fundamental differences that are going to have to be resolved as a prelude to reunification. If nothing else, it’s pretty clear that the negotiators and lawyers are going to be kept busy for some time.