EASTERN EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79B00864A001200020075-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2006
• Sequence Number: 75
• Publication Date: August 28, 1972
• Content Type: STUDY

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#163 EASTERN EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCER OCI 0960/72
28 Aug.1972
State Dept. review completed
Erich Honecker Celebrates His 60th Birthday
SED first secretary Honecker celebrated his 60th
anniversary--a milestone revered in the Communist states--
on 25 August amid an outpouring of congratulations and
felicitations from his domestic colleagues and foreign
friends. The SED central committee presented Honecker
with the Order of Karl Marx--the GDR's highest political
award--while Soviet Ambassador Yefremov awarded him the
Order of Lenin on behalf of the CPSU.
While the messages all conveyed a feeling of high regard
for the East German leader, the one from the SED central
committee was particularly noteworthy in its apparent effort
to depict the political relationship between the first
secretary and the rest of the party hierarchy. The central
committee's message made a point of portraying Honecker as
the servant of the party rather than. its master. The message
gave Honecker his due for his contributions to SED achieve-
ments during the party's often tumultuous history, but was
more restrained in dealing with Honecker's 16 months as
first secretary. The message avoided any suggestion that
Honecker controlled the party and at most cited his "deci-
sive part" in drawing up and implementing party policies.
Instead, it emphasized the "collective" nature of party
leadership.
A conservative public approach to Honecker's status in
the SED is not surprising in view of the current disdain
in the bloc for personality "cults." Moreover, Honecker's
accomplishments in his short term in office have been in
sensitive areas such as European detente which have involved 25X1
some hard debate within the SED,and it is doubtful that the 25X1
Honecker forces would choose to presume an overbearina
attitude.
Maurer's Travel Plans Include Yugoslavia in September
Premier Maurer will visit Belgrade in the first half
of September, according to press announcements. Some dip-
lomats in Bucharest report that he also plans to visit
Canada and Israel, though not until "sometime in 1973."
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Maurer last led.a delegation to Belgrade in January 1970.
He, however, has been.a frequent.-participant.. in high-level
talks with the Yugoslavs,.most recently in May when Tito and
Ceausescu met to inaugurate-the Iron Gates project on the
Danube River.
Embassy Bucharest speculates..that..Maurer will discuss
future.. arms cooperation with the Yugoslavs. Although the
two Balkan mavericks. do engage in. arms. cooperation, notably
in the production.of_a jet fighter and submarines, we do not
think that Maurer will emphasize arms cooperation as he is
not a military.. affairs. specialist. Instead, we believe that
his talks will center on Balkan cooperation and preparations
for a Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE),
each of which Ceausescu.. emphasized in his marathon speech to
the national party conference in July. Buttressing our
contention is the fact that Ceausescu and Romanian Deputy
Foreign Minister Ecobescu, a specialist on European security,
held talks with Soviet Ambassador Drozdenko in Bucharest on
23 and 25 August. It thus appears likely that Maurer will
brief the Yugoslavs on these talks and that.,the Balkan
independents will seek to get their ducks in order prior to
further move toward a CSCE by Moscow and its client states.
Meanwhile, reports-of Maurer's projected trips to
Canada and Israel..provide.grist for speculation. about his
rumored retirement.. The aristocratic and .highly able Maurer
will be 70 years of age.. on 23 September,. but. he has not fully
recovered from .a..near.fatal ..automobile accident in the fall
of 1970. Although it now seems unlikely. that he will retire 25X1
on his birthday, we are not at all. certain that he will stay
in office. beyond December, when.. Romania-celebrates its
twenty-fifth year. under Communist rule.
More Polish Views on MBFR
A Polish diplomat. in Copenhagen had some.. interesting
points to make during a recent conversation with a Danish
foreign ministry official regarding possible inclusion of
some MBFR.subjects in a.CSCE forum... Emphasizing that it
was -only.his opinion, the Pole claimed. that topics which
could be discussed as "confidence-building measures" at
CSCE or in a separate forum included.such things as:
reduction in stationed.and..national troops; freezing of
levels of. military budgets, freezing. and. limitation of
certain types of offensive weapons; limitation of maneuvers
in frontier areas; prohibition against carrying nuclear
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warheads in aircraft and prohibition against. visits to
European-ports of ships,carrying.nuclear weapons. The NATO
Senior Polads Committee, discussing a report of this conver-
sation, expressed.surprise.at.thePolish .position on.-confidence-
building measures. Some committee members-said that the report
indicates that NATO countries should be ready for further sur-
prises in Eastern responses to Western proposals on these
measures.
. The Polish diplomat may not have been accur:ately._reflecting
the views of his government, however. When Polish Foreign
Minister Olszowski visited. Austria in June, he claimed that
his government was against. discussion of MBFR topics within
a CSCE forum. Nonetheless, Poland-traditionally has been
very. interested in arms limitation and has been more active
than most East European countries in pushing the discussion
of confidence-building measures at the CSCE preparatory
conference. In keeping with this more activist foreign policy
during the past months, therefore, we may see more Polish
initiatives as the date for the conference draws near.
.NOTE: THE VIEWS.EXPRESSED..ABOVE REPRESENT
ONLY THE ANALYSIS OF.THE EE BRANCH
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