Euromissile Negotiations

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Overview

The fate of the most promising superpower arms control negotiations in years may depend as much on London, Paris and Bonn as on Washington and Moscow. The three-day talks in Moscow between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze and Shultz' meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev ended April 15 with optimistic predictions on both sides of an early agreement on the removal of medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe. Tass, the official Soviet news agency, called the talks “timely and useful,” while Shultz said that” very considerable headway” had been made, adding that “it should be possible to work out an agreement.”

But the secretary of state stressed that acceptance of a new Soviet proposal to eliminate short-range nuclear missiles would depend on the consent of America's West European allies. “We are a member of a strong alliance and on matters of this importance. of course, we don't respond immediately,” he said, “We consult carefully with our allies.” Shultz went directly to Brussels to discuss the proposal with America's increasingly skittish European allies. who are concerned that a reduction in U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe would leave it vulnerable to Soviet conventional forces and weaken nuclear deterrence.

Indeed, the vision of a nuclear-free world is sending shock waves through the continent. Fearful that the United States may decouple its strategic interests from those of Europe, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dismissed that vision as “a dream” when she visited Moscow several weeks ago. “You cannot base a sure defense on dreams.” she told Gorbachev. who has proposed that all nuclear weapons be eliminated within the next 10–15 years. President Reagan, who initially welcomed Gorbachev's proposal during their October 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, has since backed away from the idea.