NATO Leader Rejects Proposal for a Denuclearized Germany
NATO’s secretary-general rejected Soviet calls for German neutrality today, saying a newly unified Germany must not only stay in the Western alliance but remain a base for its nuclear weapons.
“Our goal is clear--we don’t want a denuclearized Germany,” Manfred Woerner told reporters.
Woerner, who conferred with President Bush before leaving for a NATO meeting in Canada, said it appears that despite weekend talks over the future of Germany, Moscow has not yet accepted the Western allies’ insistence that a reunited Germany be a member of NATO.
Asked after his 30-minute White House meeting if the Soviet Union has reconciled itself to the idea, he replied, “As far as I know, not yet.”
Woerner said the alliance has a lot of work to do in defining more clearly its political and military roles amid the revolutionary changes that have redrawn the European political landscape.
In light of Bush’s call for a NATO summit to address these questions, Woerner said the meeting will “most likely” be held in London the first half of July, but the dates are not yet set.
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