N.A.T.O. in crisis — report

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 9

N.A.T.O. in crisis — report

NZPA-Reuter Washington N.A.T.O. is suffering its most severe internal crisis in many years, according to an American Congressional study. The study, prepared by the Congressional Research Service, said there was a belief in Europe that American .leadership was no longer contributing effectively to Western security. A similar study was released earlier by the Senate Foreign. Relations Committee.

“Europeans see our attitudes as careless . . . (and) are preoccupied by the desire to avoid war. We tend to see the current European attitude as weak-kneed,” it said.

Senator Joseph Biden, who released the study, said that the. growing American antinuclear movement may

eventually strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

“An, immediate effect should be to reassure our allies that Americans and Europeans have not diverged fundamentally on the need to restrain East-West conflict and avoid nuclear war,” he said.

The study said that European dissatisfaction with American leadership can be traced to President Carter’s Administration, which was indecisive on issues such as siting an enhanced radiation warhead — the so-called neutron bomb — in Europe. It said that the Regan Administration’s policies had aggravated differences with Europe over nuclear issues and the role of arms control, which Europeans tended to regard as more of a priority than did most American leaders.