Adjourn talks say Swiss

Press, 12 February 1982, Page 6

Adjourn talks say Swiss

NZPA-Reuter Madrid Switzerland called yesterday for the prompt suspension of the European securitry conference because of East-West tensions over martial law in Poland. The Swiss Foreign Minister (Mr Pierre Aubert) told the meeting of 35 governments that no other solution was possible at present and proposed an adjournment to last for “several months.” The proposal came after sharp attacks on the Soviet Union and Poland’s military regime by. six Western Foreign Ministers and a successful Soviet attempt to bar other Western Ministers from speaking on the Polish crisis at Wednesday’s session. Mr Aubert spoke yesterday at an informal session of heads of delegations. Conference sources said Soviet and other delegates made no attempt to stop him. The Swiss Foreign Minister said the international climate was so bad that it would be impossible to reach agreement on a joint document winding up the 15-month-old meeting, originally called to review progress in East-West detente.

“A further stay in Madrid would only result in a further worsening of this climate,” he said. “The view that we should stay here for an unlimited time at any price is doomed to failure. We therefore consider that the only reasonable solution is to suspend the Madrid meeting rapidly and to return here after an interruption of several months.” Swiss sources said Mr Aubert wanted the conference to adjourn as quickly as possible. The Swiss delegation released the text of his statement, which was delivered at a closed-door meeting. Mr Aubert's call for an adjournment coincides with the views of the United States and some other Western and neutral countries that it is pointless to con-, tinue the meeting in .the present highly charged international atmosphere. West Germany, however, has held the view that the meeting should go on and that an adjournment would be a major blow to the already battered process of detente.