Assurance On Frontiers

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32199, 19 January 1970, Page 11

Assurance On Frontiers

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) BONN, January 18. { The West German 1 Chancellor (Mr Willy ] Brandt) has told Parlia- < ment that non-aggres- < sion agreements with the. Soviet Union and other j Communist States would , be worthless if not ap- I plied to European frontiers. 1 He made the statement during a two-day Parliamentary debate on his State of the Nation speech, which was delivered on Wednesday. In this he offered East Germany negotiations as between equal partners on the renunciation! of force. Government sources said the Social Democratic Chancellor’s statement underlined West Germany’s readiness to include in non-aggression agreements its commitment to respect existing frontiers.

The Bonn Government is l prepared to apply thesei principles to the border with East Germany and to Poland’s western frontier, on the OderNeisse line, pending a final settlement under an allGerman peace treaty.

Poland’s post-war frontier with East Germany, the OderNeisse River line, has been recognised as final by the Soviet Union and East Germany, but not by the Western powers or West Germany. “I am for saying that agreement on renunciation of force is worth nothing if it is not applied to frontiers, especially European frontiers in general,” Mr Brandt said. He rejected a charge that he had abandoned the quest for reunification by acknowledging the existence of two states on German soil. The Chancellor has promised a formal proposal soon to the East German Prime Minister (Mr Willi Stoph) for non-aggression talks which would be based on the principles of respect; for each

other’s frontiers and territorial integrity. The East German Leader (Mr Walter Ulbricht) has called a press conference for tomorrow—his first since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. This unexpected move prompted speculation in Bonn yesterday that Mr Ulbricht would set even harder terms for an accommodation with Bonn than the East Germans have already presented.