Prime Minister
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press:
May I say how delighted we are to welcome Chancellor Kohl to British Forces in this part of the Federal Republic of Germany. We were both very anxious to come, to express our total commitment to NATO, and I wish also to express our total commitment to the defence of the Federal Republic of Germany.
We have been extremely impressed with everything we have seen; not only the tank demonstration and helicopter demonstration you have seen, but also the spirit and professionalism and efficiency of all of our Armed Forces who are serving in this country and elsewhere.
We have divided up our visit, so that we were able to see some equipment, some training, and also had the opportunity to talk to some families, because if fighting men are to be confident of fighting to the most efficient extent, we must also look after their families and the education of their children in schools. I can only report that our families here are very happy and satisfied with the education they are receiving in our schools, and are delighted to be part of NATO and part of the Armed Forces of the Crown, and I am very pleased indeed with the extent of the cooperation and the [end p1] spirit of the cooperation between Britain and the Federal Republic of Germany.
Chancellor Kohl
Ladies and Gentlemen:
For me, this is a very important day. The Prime Minister and I are paying a visit to the British Forces serving here in the Federal Republic of Germany and both of us consider this to be a demonstration for our soldiers—a demonstration for the British soldiers who are serving here and a demonstration for the German soldiers who, together with their British comrades, have prepared and carried out this demonstration today.
Both the British soldiers and their German comrades have made it clear today that we are aware of the fact that freedom and liberty cannot be obtained for nothing and I am grateful for the fact that I have an opportunity today to express our gratitude and our appreciation to the British soldiers and their families, the soldiers who are doing their duty here, for what they are doing here for all of us. The soldiers who are serving here are serving far away from home and under conditions which may be very different from their conditions at home and they defend not only the freedom and the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, but also the freedom and the sovereignty of our country, of the citizens of this country.
It was a remarkable experience for me to learn from my conversations with British soldiers, their wives, with their dependents, that the British soldiers here have a feeling that they are growing more together and living ever more closely together with the population of our country, and whoever is familiar with the great history of the United Kingdom knows what it means that for [words missing] British soldiers have been stationed [end p2] here in our country on the mainland to defend our freedom as well, and I am impressed by the professionalism of the British soldiers and by their spirit. I have been impressed by the high level and the high standard of their training and I think both the Prime Minister and myself have learned something today. We have learned something from our conversations with the soldiers. We have received some indication and important information and I think we also owe some new knowledge to the information we have received today.
One result and one conclusion I am drawing from my experiences today is we are going to do everything we can in order to further intensify the close cooperation and close ties that exist between our federal armed forces and the forces of the United Kingdom, and that goes also for the cooperation and the close ties with the forces of the United States and of France.
And then, Prime Minister, I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and my appreciation for the hospitality that has been extended to us on this day and it is, of course, for a German Chancellor, a unique experience to ride in a tank following the lead of the British Prime Minister.
Prime Minister
Thank goodness we both hit our targets, due firstly, to the excellent professional instruction we had from each of our tank commanders. Your questions. [end p3]
Question
I would like to ask Mrs. Thatcher whether, after her experience today, she thinks that women would make good front-line soldiers for the British Army in Germany.
Prime Minister
Women are part of our Armed Forces—they are a vital part. We are very grateful to them, and I am sure, after today, you would approve of having a woman Prime Minister who, after all, has to make some very difficult decisions should things ever get problematic.
Question (In German, to Chancellor Kohl)
Mr. Chancellor, you find yourself in an area which, on account of its importance and uniqueness in Europe for military considerations, has been a great strain on the population here and what I am referring to is the Soltau (phon.) Agreement and your party friends in the past have suggested and noted that termination should be given as far as this agreement is concerned. Could that be implemented into reality and, if so, with which position would you go into negotiations to attain that objective? I think the British side has made it absolutely clear that in view of the importance of this area for training purposes, it would not be conceivable that this agreement should be terminated. What is your position?
Chancellor Kohl
I think I have answered your question already, at least in part. I said that freedom cannot be obtained and cannot be safeguarded for nothing, and since we are aware of the fact that freedom requires and demands sacrifices, we have for example [end p4] extended the duration of the draft from fifteen to eighteen months and since we know that freedom can be defended only together with our friends, we are grateful to our British, American and French friends that their forces are with us here in the Federal Republic of Germany for that purpose.
Naturally, this is bound to cause problems and when you have a concentration of training areas, a concentration of soldiers for that purpose, as in this area, as in this region, it is natural that problems will arise, and this is a problem which we have in general in the Federal Republic of Germany. We are the glace of NATO; we are the front line of NATO and that is the reason why such a high concentration of soldiers and arms and equipment in such a densely populated area is bound to create problems.
In other words, we are asked to give two answers; first of all, we must try to reduce the strain and on the burden this situation creates for the citizens. We must try to minimise it and we are discussing these matters with our British friends, particularly as far as this very region here is concerned and I think we will find reasonable and sensible solutions to this problem and you may also assume that I understand something about this particular problem, because for many years I have been the Premier of the Federal State of Rhineland Palatinate and that is indeed the state with the highest concentration of military forces, so I am familiar with the burden this imposes on the citizens.
But let me add as clearly, as the second part of my answer, that we together must make sacrifices to defend freedom. Whoever believes that freedom and liberty can be obtained for nothing is living under an illusion, but I am certain that the problems which have been brought to my knowledge by Frau Hoffmann, my colleague, whose constituency is here, … that we will be able to find sensible [word missing]. [end p5]
Question (in German)
May I take up your remark, Mr. Chancellor, that freedom cannot be had for nothing? I may point out that in some of the districts and villages here the good relations between the German population and the British Forces have changed into some kind of hostility. What kind of price would have to be paid for that?
May I ask concretely what stage have you reached in your negotiations or in your talks about the Soltau-Luneborg Agreement with the British?
Chancellor Kohl
Well, as far as the second part of your question is concerned, namely the details of the Agreement, Manfred Werner will answer your question, but as far as the first part of the question you ask is concerned, I would like to say quite clearly that I will not accept the tendency inherent in that part of your question.
Let me repeat once again, I am familiar with the problems and once you live in the Paletinate—and I am living there—you are bound to be familiar with the burden the presence of so many military people imposes on the local population.
I am familiar with all the trouble with low-flying aircraft but, nevertheless, this does not affect what I said earlier on—that without the presence of allied and German forces we just could not go on living as we do.
Mr. Werner
As far as the concrete issues related to the Soltau-Luneborg Agreement are concerned, we briefly discussed, my colleague [end p6] George Younger and I, and as you know, we have established a high-level Anglo-German Committee to discuss these things, chaired by the State Secretary Ruh (phon.) of the Federal Ministry of Defence, and the talks and exchanges have been very intensive and have so far already produced some improvements.
The training activities of the British Forces over the week-end have been reduced by about 25%;.
We are not yet fully happy about this progress and I made that clear to my British colleague. There are wishes going beyond that, which we consider to be legitimate—the summer break and the weekend activities—and we agreed that these questions should be further discussed and considered by the Commission and my colleague was kind enough to point out that he himself and his associates would personally look into this matter and continue in a very positive spirit the negotiations, so that the question of a possible notice of termination of the Soltau-Luneborg Agreement is not relevant at the moment.
Question (for both leaders)
The Stockholm Disarmament Conference is about to conclude at the end of the week and there seem to be high hopes of a very successful agreement.
Are you not at all concerned, in this context, that today's rather spectacular events could be seen in Warsaw Pact capitals as a sort of sabre-rattling provocation?
Prime Minister
No. That is nonsense, absolute nonsense. (Speaking to Interpreter): Would you like to translate both question and answer at the same time? [end p7]
Chancellor Kohl
I can only agree with the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister
Now we have time for a quickie if they are like that.
Question
Prime Minister, I would like to ask you, in view of the briefings which you have had already and which you are having today, and what you have seen here in the field with the Rhine Army, do you accept that there is a case for an increase in manpower for the Rhine Army to help meet its commitments here in Germany?
Prime Minister
No Sir. Our commitment, as you know, in Army terms, is about 55,000 forces here and our commitment in Royal Air Force is of the order of 11,000, so it comes up to about 66,000 altogether. That is a very considerable proportion of the total of our Armed Forces.
I believe we meet our commitments. We shall continue to meet our commitments, and in view of some of the previous questions, may I make it clear that our commitments to defence are for twenty-four hours every day of the year. No-one says we shall not defend at week-ends or in the summer recess.
Prime Minister
Can we just finally say, Chancellor Kohl and I, we would like once again to thank our hosts for the excellent arrangements they have made for us and to congratulate each and every one of them on the work they do each and every day.