NATO Chief and Bush Discuss Role for a United Germany

NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner emerged Sunday from talks with President Bush to suggest that a reunified Germany could be a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization without extending NATO’s military reach over the territory that is now East Germany.

Woerner said a way can and will be found to keep a united Germany in NATO while recognizing “the legitimate security interests of the Soviet Union.”

After two days of talks at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., both Bush and Woerner hailed what the White House called West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s “extraordinarily successful” talks with Soviet leaders in Moscow.

Kohl said Saturday that he received “unequivocal” assurances from Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev that Moscow would respect the right of the two Germanys to decide for themselves the timing and structure of their reunification.

The White House said Bush and Woerner agreed that NATO “should adopt new political roles,” including helping shape U.S. policies toward the East Bloc nations now moving toward democracy.