VOGEL LEANS TOWARD EAST BLOC'S VIEWS ON PACT WITH NATO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85M00363R000300450014-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 7, 2007
• Sequence Number: 14
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/09/07: CIA-RDP85M00363R000300450014-9
je ar~fj~ tuu Th e
Vogel leans toward
East bloc's views
on pact with NATO
By Peter Almond
WASHINGTON TIMES STAFF
Top U.S. officials are paying particu-
larly close attention today to Hans-,Jochen
Vogel, the West German opposition party
leader who is visiting Washington,
because he represents what they see as
a weakening of resolve in America's most
important front-line ally against the
Soviet arms buildup.
His visit yesterday with Secretary of
State George Shultz, Defense Secretary
Caspar Weinberger and with congres-
sional leaders, and today with President
Reagan, comes at a time when the Soviet
Union is working hard on European left-
ists and moderates to force NATO gov-,,
ernments to abandon plans to deploy S.
And Vogel, whose Social Den cratic
party is campaigning to reca ure the
West German Bundestag in tfie March
national elections, after thr a months
of control by Helmut Kohl' Christian
Democratic Party, appears Ito be back-
ing away from his predec sor's com-
mitments to that deployme t.
Germany, but the elections'ould be a
the European peace rnovemen " said a
State Department official. "Th rheto-
ric is heating upon the anti-nuclear r ue."
Said another administration offi ' 1:
"Our interest in the Social Democrats
and Mr. Vogel is largely long-term.
Depending on the way the elections go,
they could end up back in a grand alli-
ance coalition with the CDU and who-
ever else, or they could end up really as
the opposition, without the same sense
of responsibility that comes from being
part of the government." -
If that happens, some Americans fear
the SDP may follow other European
Socialists and turn leftward, possibly
trying to seek a coalition with the pacifist
and environmentalist group, The Greens,
which could gain parliamentary seats
for the first time.
Vogel already has been strongly criti-
cized by Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich
Genscher, a Free Democrat whose tiny
party has drastically dropped out of favor
and may lose representation in the
elections. Genscher said in Bonn Ries-
day that Vogel was increasingly backing
away from the NATO "double-track"
agreement to deploy the U.S. missiles,
signed by then-Chancellor Helmut
Schmidt, SDP leader in 1979.
"He has been retreating step by step.
Now he is bounding away from it," said
Genscher.
Vogel has insisted the SDP still sup-
ports the "double-track" agreement,
which is to negotiate with the Soviets
about removal of their SS-20 nuclear mis-
siles aimed at Western Europe, and to
also has critized his government's "out-of-
hand" rejection of the Soviet Union's
new proposal to reduce those missiles to
162 -- the exact number of British and
French missiles.
Vogel appears to be cultivating a grow-
ing West German concern about nuclear
weapons, based on a recent study by the
West German magazine Der Spiegle,
which showed that 55 percent of the popu-
lation thought the United States and Sovi-
ets were not negotiating seriously about
arms control and 61 percent thought the
deployment of U.S. missiles should be
postponed.
What complicates the German politi
cal situation is that the elections are mor
likely to be a poll on concerns about th
economy than on nuclear weapons. T
December unemployment rate, j 01t
released, shows 2,200,000 Germans put
of work, or 9.1 percent of the popul? ton.
Approved For Release 2007/09/07: CIA-RDP85M00363R000300450014-9