E. German Opposition Rejects Monetary Union

Opposition members of the East German Cabinet declared Monday that they will resist efforts to force their government into forming a monetary union with West Germany.

The West German government called for such a union last week, and the issue is expected to be pressed today in Bonn, where top officials of the two governments are to open two days of discussions.

Leaders of the East German opposition made it clear Monday that they will not be stampeded into monetary union, which the West Germans say is necessary if economic chaos is to be avoided in the east.

The East Germans argued that combining the two countries’ currencies would give West Germany control of their economy and force the surrender of an important measure of their sovereignty.

“We are taking 40 years of East German identity to Bonn, and we will not give it up there,” said Minister Klaus Schlueter of the Green League, who will be among the officials accompanying Prime Minister Hans Modrow to Bonn.

Modrow has said only that the subject of monetary union would be “explored.”

The East Germans have made no effort to conceal the severity of their economic crisis, and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl is in a strong position to virtually dictate the terms of any accord. At Monday’s Cabinet meeting, the East Germans asked the government in Bonn to provide between $6 billion and $9 billion in financial aid as a “contribution of solidarity.”

Kohl’s position was strengthened over the weekend when he returned from Moscow with what he described as a Soviet go-ahead for German reunification.

Wolfgang Ullmann of the opposition group Democracy Now said after Monday’s Cabinet meeting that the two German states “can no longer coexist independently of one another.”

But he went on to say: “We cannot act as if East Germany does not exist any more. The self-determination rights of our people must be honored. Therefore, any attempts to quickly curb our financial sovereignty would be overly hasty and dangerous.”

East Germans were deeply offended by a remark made last week by Horst Teltchik, an aide to Kohl, who warned that East Germany was insolvent and would soon be unable “to pay its bills.”

Many saw this as a calculated West German government effort to create panic among East German officials and force them to accept whatever terms Kohl lays down in exchange for financial aid.

Modrow is expected to present a plan for interim help that would allow his government to function independently of Bonn until after the elections scheduled for March 18 in which his Communist-led government is expected to be swept aside.

Kohl is expected to insist, as a bare minimum for aid, that the East Berlin regime disclose the actual state of its economy.

In another development Monday, the Social Democratic parties of both countries called for an international conference this spring on the question of reunification. Under the plan, the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union would be represented.

The two parties said in a joint statement that a unified Germany should not be a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the Warsaw Pact. They said the question of Germany’s military strength should be decided by the 35-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.