I German Liberals' to stay with Schmidt

Press, 2 June 1981, Page 9

I German Liberals' to stay with Schmidt

NZPA-Reuter Cologne The West German liberal Free Democrat Party has reaffirmed its commitment to the Government coalition with Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's embattled Social Democrat Party. The Social’ Democrats have been riven by internal dissent since the coalition was returned to power with a reduced majority in General Elections in October. Mr Schmidt warned his colleagues last month that continued bickering might drive the Liberals into coalition with the opposition Christian Democratic Union. But the Free Democrats, who gained where the Social Democrats lost in the elections. yesterday pledged continued support for the coalition which has ruled West Germany for the last 12 years. "We are a party which knows exactly what it wants and which sticks to agreements when it enters a coalition with another party,” the Free Democrats’ General Secretary, Guenter Verheugen, said at the end of a three-day national party conference. “Agreements apply. Contracts will be honoured. The joint Government programme of F.D.P. and S.P.D.

will be put into practice. End of announcement on the sub--ject of the coalition,” he said. The conference had earlier confirmed support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s nuclear missile policy after the party leader, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, had threatened to resign as Foreign Minister if the vote went against it. Mr Genscher, adopting the line taken by Mr Schmidt earlier last month, said his conscience would not let him stay in office if the party rejected N.A.T.O.'s plan to deploy new Amerian ( medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe while simul--5 taneously seeking talks on I East-West arms cuts. i But in the vote on Friday 103 of the 382 delegates voted against the plan after a long debate. The N.A.T.O. decision is also one of the main causes of dissent among Social Democrats, although Mr Schmidt gained a comfortable majority in support of it. in Parliament last week. Mr Genscher also carried it thorugh the Free Democrats’ conference, but he failed to persuade his colleagues in West Berlin to let the Christian Democrats form a working minority government there.