POLICY OF WEST

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28783, 2 January 1959, Page 7

POLICY OF WEST

“Tough But Flexible”

BONN, December 31.

President Theodor Heuss, of West Germany, tonight urged the West to stand tough but flexible in its cold war struggle with the Soviet Union.

He told Western diplomats to give up reliance on the status quo and open talks with the Russians rooted in “imagination and flexible tenacity.” In a nation-wide radio broadcast, Dr. Heuss said the world was in peril as a result of the Soviet threats to Berlin.

“And.” he added, “we dare not forget that in the next months difficulties will crop up now here, now there.”

He followed with something rather startling: he told the people who were still ‘‘spiritual followers of Hitler” to leave their radio sets. He was not talking to them, he said.

The Mayor of West Berlin, Mr Willy Brandt, in a radio broadcast tonight, said: "This is the year of decision. Here in Berlin the fate of Germany—and even more—will be decided. Therefore, let us sustain our sense of what is important, our courage and determination. We will then be able to withstand all dangers.”

Reuter’s correspondent in Moscow reported that the British Ambassador, Sir Patrick Reilly, spent 15 minutes with a Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Vassily Kuznetsov, when he handed over the Note, which was in reply to a Soviet Note on November 27. The other envoys had similar brief interviews.

In matters of substance, the Western Notes were virtually identical, differing only in form. The Notes were made public shortly after they were delivered to the Kremlin. United States officials were said to be anxious to get the United States Note in the hands of the Russian leaders in time for ample study before the Soviet Deputy Premier, Mr Anastas Mikoyan, leaves Moscow for a two-week visit to the United States. He is expected to arrive by plane early next week. The West served notice they hold the Soviet Government responsible for fulfilling all its obligations in Berlin, including the right of the Big Three to have free access to their sectors of the city. They said they were ready to discuss the Berlin question “within the framework of negotiations for a solution of the German problem as well as that of European security.” But the United States Note said that any such negotiations must be held “in an atmosphere devoid of coercion or threats.” It said it assumed the Soviet Government was ready to enter into discussions on that basis. It invited the Russians to make an early reply to the Western proposal for a four-Power conference.