Word: mitterrand
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...course, is to induce Moscow to accept a unified Germany as a member of NATO. Said an adviser to French President Francois Mitterrand: "We must convince the Soviets that NATO is not a threat to their security, even with -- and especially with -- a united Germany included in its ranks. All the rest is essentially detail...
...summit, Bush proposed another compromise: NATO would consider nukes "weapons of last resort." Just how much change that represents is unclear. National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft says it merely implies using nuclear weapons "later rather than earlier." Thatcher and Mitterrand fought against it nonetheless, and the communique wound up throwing the "last resort" doctrine into the future; it would be adopted only "with the total withdrawal" of Soviet forces stationed in Eastern Europe. That satisfied Thatcher that any change was merely semantic, and she signed. Mitterrand had misgivings even then, but went along for the sake of alliance solidarity...
That debate, in turn, was a sort of warmup for what is likely to be an even sharper dispute at this week's seven-nation Western economic summit in Houston. That meeting will reunite Bush, Thatcher, Mitterrand, Kohl and Prime Ministers Brian Mulroney of Canada and Giulio Andreotti of Italy, plus Toshiki Kaifu of non-NATO Japan...
...call for a nationwide strike next month. While Gorbachev's critics were puzzling over that ploy, he made a tantalizing new offer to the Lithuanians: their own state in two to three years if they "freeze" their unilateral declaration of independence. Then, when he met with French President Francois Mitterrand for a tour of the horizon, Gorbachev reiterated his insistence that ending the cold war means ^ retiring NATO...
Lithuania quickly shifted toward flexibility. Seizing on an idea floated last month by French President Francois Mitterrand and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Vilnius offered, in return for negotiations, to suspend all legislation it had passed since declaring independence. Prime Minister Prunskiene flew to Moscow to present the offer to Gorbachev. While she was still in the air, Gorbachev called the Lithuanian mission asking to see her as soon as she arrived. This was a gesture of compromise on his part, since he had insisted no talks were possible until the Lithuanians canceled their declaration of independence...