Atlantic Community News - May-June 1970 - Policy Probe and East-West Talks

Sep 29, 2026

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Atlantic Community News covers Atlantic and European diplomatic developments in May–June 1970, focusing on West Germany’s continued rapprochement efforts led by Chancellor Willy Brandt after a setback with East Germany. It details Brandt’s negotiating position with Poland and the agenda for prospective Soviet talks, including legal and charter-based arguments tied to a renunciation-of-force proposal. It also reports NATO’s Rome ministerial actions proposing terms for East–West discussion on European security and balanced force reductions, alongside contrasting Moscow reactions and official declarations.

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CategoryResearch & Report

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Atlantic Community News

Willy Brandt Policy Probe IsUndeterred by East German Rebuff

Nato Proposes TermsFor East-West Talk

EEC CONDEMNS GREEK JUNTA

# Atlantic Community News MAY-JUNE 1970 ## Willy Brandt Policy Probe IsUndeterred by East German Rebuff Following one stone-wall episode with East Germany,Chancellor Willy Brandt has continued efforts at rapproche-ment with Communist neighbors by renewed negotiationswith Poland and in announcing that his government ex-pected to start talks with the Soviet Union before the end ofthe summer. The rebuff by East Germany took place at the meetingbetween Herr Brandt and Premier Willi Stoph at Kassel,inWest Germany,on May 21.Herr Brandt came to themeeting with twenty points for negotiation,most of themmore conciliatory than past West German policy had been.Premier Stoph ignored them and demanded only conces-sions:Formal diplomatic recognition of the German Demo-cratic Republic (East Germany)and acknowledgment ofthe present status quo in Eastern Europe.The encounterwas so cold that no communique was issued,no date was setfor a future meeting,and fights between Communist andAnti-Communist street factions further accented the hostil-ity. Herr Brandt did not personally take part in the encoun-ter with Poland.However,Foreign Minister Walter Scheelgave Jozef Winiewcz,the Polish First Deputy ForeignMinister,a warm welcome when he came to Bonn on June 8.The meeting was the fourth between representatives ofthe two states.Although no sign was given of concession onthe border recognition which Poland demands,the three-day meeting ended in agreement to work out a treaty for"normalization of mutual relations,"—the first positiveachievement for West Germany's efforts to thaw its contacts. On the same day that talks with Poland were resumed,Herr Brandt's government isued a six-point prospectus forthe climax negotiations with the Soviet Union in which itclaimed that State Secretary Egon Bahr had concluded fromhis prolonged preliminary talks in Moscow with SovietForeign Minister Andrei Gromyko that grounds for fruitfulnegotiations of a renunciation-of-force treaty did exist.Theoptimistic touch apparently came from the belief that theSoviet Union was ready to subordinate the right of inter-vention in a “former enemy state”which it had retainedunder articles 53 and 107 of the United Nations Charter infavor of Article 2 of the Charter which specifies that allstates should settle their differences by peaceful means. Frequently since launching efforts to settle some of thelong-standing differences with East Germany,Poland,andMoscow,Herr Brandt had warned of difficultiesTo EastGermany he had offered an exchange of official representa-tives who would be less than Ambassadors;to Poland heoffered respect for the Oder-Neisse border rather thanofficial recognition of it.The East Germans had been asadamant in the first meeting at Erfurt on March 19 as atKassel on May 21,and Poland had throughout insisted onformal recognition of the border.Whether the Soviet Unionwould be any more interested in a compromise on words(Continued on page 2) ## Nato Proposes TermsFor East-West Talk The ffteen foreign ministers of the North AtlanticTreaty Organization meeting in Rome on May 27 issued acommunique expressing willingness to take up the often-repeated invitation of the Warsaw Pact powers to hold aconference on European security,and at the same time putout an even more concretely worded invitation to explorethe mutual and balanced reduction of military forces.Thetwo were the most decisive moves that NATO has made inits 21 years of existence toward disengagement and reduc-tion of tensions in the area of the prolonged cold war. Published Moscow reaction did not indicate unreservedwelcome.The NATO agreement to work seriously for asecurity conference was basically the Western response to aWarsaw Pact initiative.However,it attempted to be specificwhere the Warsaw Pact had been unclear,and to forecastthe future in terms of the success of bilateral or multilateralnegotiations now under way.The Tass news service corre-spondent on the spot in Rome described the co

FAQs

What did East Germany reject during the Brandt-Stoph meeting in Kassel?

East Germany ignored Brandt’s proposed negotiating points and demanded formal diplomatic recognition of the German Democratic Republic and acknowledgment of the existing status quo in Eastern Europe.

How did Brandt’s government plan to approach negotiations with the Soviet Union after talks with Poland?

It issued a six-point prospectus asserting that Egon Bahr’s preliminary talks in Moscow identified grounds for fruitful negotiation of a renunciation-of-force treaty.

What did NATO propose after its Rome meeting regarding European security and force reductions?

NATO issued a communique expressing willingness to pursue a security conference with Warsaw Pact powers and also invited exploration of mutual, balanced reductions of military forces.

Sep 29, 2026

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