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Background: THE IMPENDING VISIT OF SOVIET LEADERS BULGANIN AND KHRUSCHEV TO EAST GERMANY HAS PARKED OFF AN DIPLOMATIC "WAR" OF PROPOSALS AND COUNTER-PROPOSALS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST.......FIRST SHOTS IN THE NEW OUTBREAK WERE FIRED BY THE EAST GERMAN PRIME MINISTER, HERR GROTEWOHL, WHEN HE PUT FORWARD A PROPOSAL TO FORM A FEDERATION BETWEEN EAST AND WEST GERMANY IN BERLIN ON SATURDAY, JULY 27.....WITH GERMAN REUNIFICATION ONE OF THE KEY QUESTIONS IN THE SEPTEMBER WEST GERMAN ELECTIONS, WESTERN DIPLOMATS REGARD THE STATEMENT AS THE OPENING GAMBIT IN A PROPAGANDA WAR AIMED AT THE ELECTIONS........ENLARGING ON HIS PROPOSALS, HERR GROTEWOHL PUT FORWARD THREE PROPOSITIONS:) 1. BOTH GERMANYS TO BAN THE STORAGE AND PRODUCTION OF ATOMIC WEAPONS. 2. WEST GERMANY TO LEAVE N.A.T.O. AND EAST GERMANY TO LEAVE THE WARSAW PACT, CONSCRIPTION IN WEST GERMANY TO END, AND THE TWO GERMANYS TO AGREE ON EACH OTHER'S MILITARY STRENGTH. 3. BOTH COUNTRIES TO APPROACH THE POWERS WITH TROOPS STATIONED ON GERMAN TERRITORY TO SECURE THEIR WITHDRAWAL.......SUBSEQUENTLY, HERR GROTEWOHL SAID, THERE WOULD BE AGREEMENTS ON ECONOMIC RELATIONS, TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS, THE STATUS OF BERLIN, AND THE LIFTING OF THE BAN ON THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN WEST BERLIN.......THE WESTERN REPLY CAME IN THE FORM OF A JOINT DECLARATION SIGNED IN BERLIN ON MONDAY, JULY 29, BY BRITAIN, FRANCE, THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY. THE DECLARATION WAS READ BY HERR VON BRENTANO, WEST GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER, AT A CEREMONY IN THE WEST BERLIN SENATE HOUSE. ALL PRESENT STOOD IN SILENCE AS THE FREEDOM BELL WAS TOLLED........THE DECLARATION, WHICH WAS SIGNED FOR GREAT BRITAIN BY SIR CHRISTOPHER STEEL, THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR, IS THE PRODUCT OF A "WORKING GROUP" OF OFFICIALS OF THE FOUR GOVERNMENTS THAT HAS BEEN MEETING SINCE FEBRUARY IN WASHINGTON, PARIS AND BONN.......IT REPEATS THE PROPOSALS PUT FORWARD BY THE WESTERN POWERS AT THE GENEVA CONFERENCE IN 1955........IT INSISTS ON FREE ALL-GERMAN ELECTIONS, AND THE FREEDOM OF AN ALL-GERMAN GOVERNMENT TO CHOOSE ITS OWN POLICIES. IT DECLINES
TO PLACE ON A REUNIFIED GERMANY A STATUS OF NEUTRALISATION OR DEMILITARISATION......AT THE SAME TIME, WHILE STATING THAT THE NATIONAL UNITY OF GERMANY WOULD NOT IN ITSELF CONSTITUTE A THREAT TO GERMANY'S NEIGHBOURS, THE DECLARATION RECOGNISES THAT APPROPRIATE ARRANGEMENTS SHOULD BE MADE THAT "WOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE LEGITIMATE SECURITY INTERESTS OF ALL THE COUNTRIES CONCERNED". GERMANY SHOULD BE FREE TO JOIN N.A.T.O. OR NOT, AS SHE PLEASED, AND THE WESTERN POWERS "COULD NOT CONTEMPLATE THAT N.A.T.O. ITSELF SHOULD CONSTITUTE THE SUBJECT OF NEGOTIATIONS". ..... NEVERTHELESS, THEY ARE PREPARED TO GIVE AN ASSURANCE THAT THEY WILL NOT TAKE ANY MILITARY ADVANTAGE FROM THE WITHDRAWAL OF SOVIET FORCES IN GERMANY.