mts%gn@cdp.uucp (10/08/89)
/* Written 11:05 pm Oct 4, 1989 by gn:mts in cdp:mts.press */
/* ---------- "561: Manfred Woerner interview.." ---------- */
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TRANSCRIPT Ref No. 561
BBC-2 Television - "Newsnight"
Monday, 2nd October, 1989
Interview with Manfred Woerner
re. German reunification/Optimism on arms talks/Gorbachev's choice:
'guns or butter'
Editor: John Morrison
Presenter (Donald MacCormick):
"Tonight, ten thousand people marched through the city of Leipzig
demanding free access to the West but, after the weekend exodus of
more than six thousand refugees, the East German Government is
insisting that thousands of others, still sheltering in West German
embassies in Czechoslovakia and Poland, should now be sent home. As
the crisis intensifies, many are beginning to question whether the
post-war division of the Germanies can survive the present thaw in
East-West relations. In London tonight, Nato's Secretary-General,
Manfred Woerner, has given an exclusive interview to Newsnight... The
former West German Defence Minister spoke of his wish to see his
country reunited and he called on the East Germans to let more of
their people leave."
Reporter (Julian O'Halloran):
"...but, as the refugees face the challenge ahead, how does the
Western Alliance regard the increasingly unstable situation that the
flood of refugees demonstrates within Eastern Europe? Manfred
Woerner...told me West Germany can cope; it is the East that faces a
crisis."
Manfred Woerner:
"If such a situation continues - or even increases - then it will
be even more clear that they cannot just react as the East German
Government does at this very moment: sit back and continue as if
nothing had happened. They have to reform, they have to liberalise,
they have to satisfy the basic human needs of their citizens...Nato's
goal is very clear, and the latest summit - in May of this year -
confirmed it: it is to overcome the division of Europe and the
division of Germany. That is the objective which we are striving for."
Reporter:
"But isn't it, perhaps, dangerous for Nato, at this stage, not to
discourage such talk when Mr Gorbachev is faced with all the internal
pressures he's faced with? Isn't the very explosive issue of German
unity - in the Soviet Union - even going to serve to put more pressure
on him in the long run?"
Manfred Woerner:
"Well, you see, we have not caused this situation, we do not
provoke it, we do not try to create additional problems, we try to
handle them. There is a clear historical tendency, there is a very
strong human development which does not ask for political answers to
it. It's happening."
Reporter:
"The hectic pace of change in the Soviet bloc was also underlined
at last week's meeting in Wyoming, where Mr Shevardnadze delivered a
series of concessions which helped to bring the U.S. and the Soviet
Union closer on all the major arms negotiation issues. As strategic
arms limitation and nuclear test ban talks resumed in Geneva today,
Nato chief Manfred Woerner's mood reflected the progress."
Manfred Woerner:
"I think they have given a real impetus, a fresh push, to the on-
going talks. I'm more optimistic, even more optimistic today than I
have been before. I think there is a realistic chance for an agreement
in the field of conventional disarmament but also I think there is a
good chance for a Start agreement."
Reporter:
"Is your optimism based partly, perhaps, on the growing
realisation in the West of the overwhelming nature of the budget
deficit in the USSR which must be driving a lot of their motivation
when it comes to arms cuts?"
Manfred Woerner:
"I think yes; this is one of the primary motives of Gorbachev. He
knows that, if he continues to spend fifteen to eighteen per cent of
his Gross National Product on armament, he will fail in his economic
drive for reform. That's clear. If Great Britain, if Germany, France,
if the United States will spend fifteen to eighteen per cent of our
GNP instead of five or three per cent, we could not have achieved what
we did. We could not have been so successful. So Gorbachev has to
choose between guns and butter."
---
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