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1990 Mar 1 - 1990 Mar 29
Prime Ministerial Private Office files

PREM19/3000
Germany (Internal situation in East Germany: policy towards German reunification) (Part 3)

Source: TNA, PREM19 series
Release date: 2016 Dec 30
Classification: Secret
Page count: 361
Themes: British relations with the US, British relations with the Soviet Union, British relations with France, British relations with the Federal Republic of Germany, German unification, 1989-90, Foreign policy (USA), Foreign policy (USSR & successor states), Defence (general)

PREM19/3000 - download whole file (PDF, 104.33 MB)

Selections from this file

Showing items 41 - 60 of 93

Date Value Title
90 Mar 12 Mo Major Germany: UKREP Brussels telegram 75 to FCO (2001Z) (“ECONFIN council: 12 March: GEMU”) [no clear timetable; inflationary impact] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 12 Mo Major Germany: UKREP Brussels telegram 750 to FCO (1530Z) (“German unification: speech by Commissioner Bangemann”) [Bangemann speech firmly stressing FRG to bear most of the burden of German unification] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 12 Mo Major Germany: FCO telegram 180 to UKE Bonn (2205Z) (“Secretary of State's Visit to Bonn: call on Chancellor Kohl”) [Hurd meeting with Kohl - saw Polish border as less important than German memnership of NATO; felt CDU had "caught up" in GDR election] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 12 Mo Major Germany: FCO telegram 181 to UKE Bonn (2115Z) (“Secretary of State's talks with Genscher: Lithuania”) [Hurd met Genscher in Bonn; "Genscher thinks Gorbachev will concede almost anything to Lithuania to preserve the fiction that they remain within the Soviet Union"] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 13 Tu Major Germany: Hurd PS letter to No.10 ("Elections in the GDR: possible Statement by the Prime Minister") ["a great day for Germany and for Europe"] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 13 Tu Major Germany: Hurd letter to MT (“Bonn, March 12”) [Kohl "much more relaxed ... twice asked me to tell you that he would never trade German membership of NATO for German unification. ... far from speeding up German unification, he was trying to get a grip on it to slow it down"; Poles "still make Kohl bristle"] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 14 We Major Germany: UKE Bonn telegram 318 to FCO (0810Z) (“Meeting of Four Western Political Directors, Paris, 13 March”) [French urged Two Plus Four meet with Poles in Warsaw, Germans insist meeting must be on German soil] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 14 We Minor Germany: UKE Bonn telegram 319 to FCO (0845Z) (“Meeting of Four Power Western Political Directors: Procedures”) [agreement between western four on procedures; sharp Franco-US clash on briefing NATO] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 15 Th Minor Germany: FCO telegram 39 to UKE The Hague, Rome, Tokyo, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, UKHC Ottawa (1526Z) (“First meeting of the Two Plus Four”) [brief your host government - good start] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 15 Th Major Germany: UKE East Berlin telegram 197 to FCO (1615Z) (“The GDR on the eve of elections”) [expects a Grand Coalition of centre right/left then increasing temp of unification negotiations] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 15 Th Minor Germany: UKE Bonn telegram 328 to FCO (1851Z) (“The Allies and German unification”) [FRG press reflects widespread feeling in Bonn that Franco-German relations currently very tense"; concern too at US attitude on Polish border, "UK unscathed"] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 16 Fr Major Germany: FCO telegram 482 to UKE Washington (1603Z) ("Two Plus Four Talks: A Peace Settlement") [US backing for German reluctance to put peace settlement on the agenda] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 16 Fr Major Germany: No.10 conversation record ("European Community: German unification") [Powell lunched with David Williamson and David Hannay: Commission not too alarmed by problems of absorbing East Germany into the EC, 'manageable'] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 16 Fr Major Germany: FCO telegram to UKE Warsaw ("Poland and German unification") [we took active part in Two Plus Four talks 13-14 March, urging early involvement of Poles in discussion of Polish borders] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 16 Fr Major Germany: FCO conversation record (Wright, Vedrine) [Vedrine saw risk united Germany would seek removal of all stationed forces, public impatient as low-flying controversy showed] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 16 Fr Major Germany: UKE Bonn telegram 338 to FCO (1841Z) (“Nuclear Deterrence in Europe”) [Stoltenberg urges early SNF negotiations to include abolition of nuclear artillery] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 16 Fr Minor Germany: FCO letter to No.10 (“Polish-German Borders”) [instructions for Ambassador to deliver supportive message to Polish government; MT approves] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 16 Fr Major Germany: UKE Washington telegram 622 to FCO (0110Z) (“Two Plus Four: Polish Borders”) [White House Press Secretary places on record Kohl's statement to Bush that Poles would be invited to Two Plus Four talks as soon as Polish border issue arose] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 17 Sa Minor Germany: No.10 letter to FCO (“Polish-German Borders”) [MT content with FCO line] [declassified Dec 2016]
90 Mar 18 Su Major Germany: Powell briefing for MT ("Seminar on Germany") [analysis of the anticipated role and character of a united Germany in Europe: aspects for discussion; MT's desire to use "experience of the past to help us shape the future ... We have to build a new framework"] [declassified Dec 2016]