NID: GERMANYS: STRENGTHENING PARTY-TO-PARTY TIES

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826853
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: January 19, 1990

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826853
O
GERMANYS: Strengthening Party-tu-Party Ties
More and more H'est German political parties are competing to shape
the May elections in East Germany. which in turn will hare a major
effect on the li'est German Bundestag race in December.
The West German Social Democrats recently set up joint whey and
election committees with their East German counterpart
The East German SPD's first national congress last
weekend changed the party name to match the West German party's
and endorsed its stance in favor of German unity. The East German
Social Democrats. confident Western support will increase their
electoral strength. rejected running on a common electoral list with
other opposition parties
West German Christian Democratic leaders agreed Tuesday to seek
an East German coalition of nonsocialist parties
'he Christian Democrats and Free Democrats are spreading
t ter support among several new groups and their counterparts.
who are struggling to live down decades of cooperation with the
Communists. Bonn this week agreed to delay formally establishing a
"treaty-based community" with East Berlin until after May to avoid
giving the ruling Communists an electoral advantage
The Greens also have begun talks with several like-minded groups in
environmental and arms control policy. The rightwing Republicans
claim to have strong support in East Germany and are trying to
organize there despite government opposition.
Comment: The West German parties hope they can help produce
a stable democratic coalition in East Berlin that excludes the
Communists. They probably expect such a coalition to seek gradual
unification along the lines of Chancellor Kohl's 10-point plan. The
Eastern parties probably will increasingly welcome West German aid
to improve their finances and to gain electioneering experience and
access to the media. They could become virtual appendages of their
Western counterparts. a development likely to facilitate reunification.
The proxy contest in the East also will have a strong effect on the
December election in West Germany. The East German Social
Democrats may have an edge on other opposition groups because of
large-scale Western aid and historical SPD strength in what is now
East Germany. Their success would allow their West German
counterparts to pose as champions of German unity. The parties of
the governing coalition probably will increase assistance to prevent
the SPD from stealing Kohl's thunder on unity. (C NF)
-C1.4. DLL N.7.1-
7
'ICS 2715/90
19 January 1990
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826853