Brandt proposes all-party foreign policy

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32903, 29 April 1972, Page 15

Brandt proposes all-party foreign policy

(N.Z. P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) BONN, April 28. Chancellor Willy Brandt today proposed that the West German Government and opposition parties agree on a joint statement on basic principles of the country’s foreign policy. But he added that he was willing to consider the possibility of a General Election if there were no other way of ensuring a viable Government.

Mr Brandt advanced the proposal in a speech to the Bundestag (Lower House) outlining possible ways of seeking all-party understanding on major issues in the light of his Left liberal coalition Government’s narrow majority. The Chancellor was speaking one day after he survived by a two-vote margin a Christian Democratic attempt to overthrow him and his Government on a motion of no confidence.

Hectic day The statement was understood to have been discussed at a special Cabinet meeting called by the Chancellor at the end of a hectic day of political battle and manoeuvring.

It began with an opposition motion of no confidence in Mr Brandt that failed by only two votes to gain the absolute majority of 249 ballots it needed to oust him and install the Christian Democratic leader, Dr Rainer Barzel, as head of Government.

The close outcome of the secret ballot and apparent defections on both sides left political leaders as unsure as before about the true balance of the parties in the Bundestag, and strengthened the feeling that General Elections were the only way out of the impasse.

247 for The full voting figures were 247 for the motion, 10 against, while three deputies formally abstained by casting blank ballot papers. The action of the S.P.D.

and E.P.D. deputies in not participating in the vote was an agreed method aimed at identifying any party defectors who might want to vote against Mr Brandt.

Only one Social Democrat was seen to have voted—Mr Guenther Mueller, who has protested publicly about “radical Left-wing tendencies” in the party. Less than four hours after the unprecedented trial of strength, watched by millions on live television broadcasts all over the country, Dr Barzel was sitting by invitation in the Chancellery discussing this possibility with Mr Brandt. The head of Mr Brandt’s office, the State Secretary (Mr Horst Ehmke) disclosed in a television interview afterwards that when the Chancellor asked the Opposition leader’s views on early elections, Dr Barzel said he thought the budget and treaty ratification debates should be disposed of first. After the failure of the noconfidence motion, Dr Barzel told journalists the result showed that neither he nor Mr Brandt had a majority.

Brandt comment In his first public comment on the outcome the Chancellor told a television reporter last night he did not rule out the possibility that General Elections could take place ahead of the scheduled polling date of autumn, 1973. Observers said that the only apparent way in which new elections could be brought about now was for Mr Brandt to call for a vote of confidence in himself. If this fails to win an absolute majority, the Chancellor can ask the Federal President to dissolve the 496member Bundestag within 21 days. New elections must be held within two months from then. Such a move taken before next week’s scheduled debate on the controversial Moscow

and Warsaw treaties would avoid another unpredictable confrontation, but shelve their ratification for several weeks. Germany’s division The Christian Democrats oppose the treaties in their present form, saying that they perpetuate the division of Germany. Even though Mr Brandt might squeeze them through the Bundestag the opposition could reject them in the Bundesrat (Upper House) where it has a single-vote majority. This would mean the accords returning to the Lower House where Mr Brandt would have to gain a 249-vote absolute majority for them to overrule the Upper House decision. Few political pundits were willing to predict with certainty that the coalition of Social Democrats and Free Democrats could muster this magic number—although Mr Brandt and the Foreign Minister (Mr Walter Scheel) reiterated last night that they were still confident the treaties would be ratified.

Welcome in Europe

Europe welcomed Mr Brandt’s victory. In an unusually fast appearance of a report from Bonn the Soviet Government newspaper, “Izvestia,” said that the result of the motion “confirmed the correctness of the path of detente and of strengthening security in Europe.”

Moscow’s Warsaw Pact allies directly involved in Mr Brandt’s Ostpolitik, which prompted the West German opposition attempts to topple the coalition Government, showed equal relief.

A high-ranking East German official greeted it as a failure of a dangerous attempt to bring down a Government that had applied

itself to the ratification of treaties with Moscow and Warsaw. Polish view In Poland, the Foreign Minister (Mr Stephan Olszowski) described the attempt to topple Mr Brandt as a provocative challenge to detente in Europe which ended in fiasco. Mr Brandt’s victory was also generally greeted with satisfaction at the Brussels headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, whose recent communique’s pledged support for his efforts to normalise relations with the Soviet Union and Poland. The reaction in Common Market circles was mainly positive. Certain E.E.C. officials believe that the Community can benefit from improved relations with Eastern Europe. Reaction from political leaders and in newspapers in West European capitals added to the warm reaction.