EAST BLOC IN TURMOIL : White House Welcomes Kohl Plan for Eventual German Reunification

WASHINGTON —  The Bush Administration on Tuesday welcomed West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s plan for eventual German reunification as an expression of “the deepest aspirations of his people,” possibly signaling a sharp disagreement at the Malta summit.

State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said reunification of the divided German state is “a goal that we and (West Germany) have long shared.”

The U.S. response was in stark contrast to the remarks of Soviet officials accompanying President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Rome, who made it clear that Moscow is not ready for any change in the postwar status of Germany. Vadim Zagladin, a Gorbachev adviser, complained that Kohl was trying to dictate the future of East Germany.

Nevertheless, U.S. officials seemed relieved that Kohl outlined a step-by-step process that set no timetable for reunification or even for an interim confederation. And some non-government experts said the Administration may have to rethink its 40-year-old policy of supporting reunification now that the goal seems attainable.

Reading from a prepared statement, Tutwiler said Kohl’s plan is “not a blueprint for German reunification but rather a coherent approach to a rapidly changing situation in (East Germany).” She noted with apparent approval that reunification “would come only after other difficult questions, such as the security of Europe, had been addressed.”

Kohl’s proposal seems to be tailored to Bonn’s internal politics, blunting right-wing calls for immediate reunification and postponing the political shocks that such a step would produce.

“He seems to be trying to gain some control of the issue, at least in his own domestic politics,” said Gregory Treverton, a senior fellow for Europe of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “It does show how quickly the issue has moved. We don’t have a lot of control over it, and I don’t think the Soviets have much control over it either.”

Treverton said Kohl’s talk of a loose confederation is a constructive step because it shows the rest of the world that German unity is possible without following the path of extreme nationalism followed by Bismarck and Hitler.

Nevertheless, the German question continues to stir strong emotions almost 45 years after the defeat of Nazi Germany. The United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France--the victorious powers in World War II--retain a legal responsibility for the status of Germany, and most of the world’s other nations have at least an indirect interest in a process that could produce Europe’s most powerful economy.

George Carver, a former deputy director of the CIA, said the issue “is fraught with very grave consequences for Europe, the United States and the world.”

Carver, now a fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said it would be awkward for the Administration to back away from its longtime support for reunification. But he added, “We have to ease up a bit in saying publicly that it is a ginger-peachy idea that should be rushed to conclusion. This raises an awful lot of questions that we ought to be prepared to face up to.”

Kohl emphasized that he envisions an eventually reunified Germany that would remain a member of the European Community and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. But even a loose confederation of the German states would have profound strategic implications in Europe, where for 40 years the East German-West German border has formed the front line between the forces of NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt, a former State Department expert on Europe who is now a fellow of the Brookings Institution in Washington, urged the Administration to think about the implications of reunification without talking about them in public.

“I don’t think that we need to make any pronouncements on the future of forces in Germany, because I don’t think we should advance a single concept of what a Germany that is no longer divided looks like,” Sonnenfeldt said.