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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, July 25, 1980
Page 14
Giscard concluded by raising his glass to "Franco-German friendship--may
it serve not only peace but from now on also the influence of Europe in
the world."
Sclunidt Cautious, Strauss Receptive
In his reply to the speeches by Giscard and other French officials,
Chancellor Schmidt pointedly refrained from supporting an obvious French
initiative for putting Western Europe on equal political footing with the
United States and the Soviet Union. Germany is a non-nuclear power, de
pendent more so than France on the American nuclear umbrella, and there
fore cannot afford to as easily express its desires for independence as
can France.
Nevertheless, at a press conference concluding the visit, Sclunidt
supported closer Franco-German cooperation, saying he welcomed France's
decision to modernize its independent nuclear forces. The move, he said,
was in harmony with last December's NATO decision to deploy nearly 600
cruise missiles and Pershing II missiles in an effort to counter what
military analysts say is a massive Soviet buildup of intermediate-range
missiles able to strike at any part of Western Europe.
While Schmidt generally listened cautiously, Giscard's constant theme of
European unity and renewed world influence won enthusiastic support from
Sclunidt's chancellor-challenger, Franz-Josef Strauss.
Giscard and Strauss met in historic Wurzburg, a few hours away from
Munich. Herr Strauss agreed with Giscard that France and West Germany
"shared a common destiny" and said this and the natural alliance between
the two neighbors should cause no other country in Europe concern.
Giscard, incidentally, was the first French head of state to visit Wurz
burg since the Emperor Napoleon. While there, he recalled that Charle
magne had also preceded him and "looked upon its walls."
Giscard d'Estaing, observed a Daily Telegraph reporter, "carried to
Wurzburg his vision of a united Europe and found his ideas echoed by
Herr Strauss."
Franco-German Troops Reviewed
On the second day of the state visit, perhaps the most symbolic gesture
of harmony between the two powers was made. The two heads of government
inspected German and French troops at a joint parade in Baden-Baden.
Baden-Baden is the site where about 50,000 French troops are stationed
on West German soil.
Both statesmen pointed to Franco-German military cooperation as a demon
stration of the friendship between the two countries, which the Presi
dent's visit was intended to underline. For those with a sense of his
tory, the parade of the two armies, marching shoulder-to-shoulder, was
a truly historic event.
The Franco-German alliance--the absolutely essential ingredient to any
concept of European untiy--has been building slowly for some time. But
the lack of contemporary American leadership in the Western Alliance is
10w forcing the two competitors together, for mutual protection, more
_han ever before.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau