Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990 TAG: 9004130376
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: EAST BERLIN LENGTH: Medium
The Volkskammer also elected Christian Democrat Lothar de Maiziere prime minister and approved his 23-member coalition Cabinet, which called for "speedy and responsible" unification with West Germany but hinted that unification might take longer and be more complicated than has been thought.
Before voting the coalition into power, the parliament addressed pressing moral questions. In a resolution, the chamber acknowledged German responsibility for aggression in World War II and for the Nazi atrocities against European Jews. The statement also apologized for East Germany's former "hypocrisy" in not recognizing the state of Israel and asked for reconciliation with all Jews.
Israel has long demanded reparations and an East German apology for Nazi crimes as a condition for diplomatic relations.
Parliament also formally apologized to Czechoslovakia for having supported the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion that crushed that country's reform movement and announced the inviolability of Poland's border with East Germany along the Oder and Neisse rivers.
"The Polish people should be assured that their right to live in secure borders will never be questioned by us Germans now or in the future through territorial demands," said Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, speaker of the parliament.
De Maiziere and leaders of the four other parties in his coalition - two other conservative parties, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party - signed an agreement saying German unity should take place "within a united Europe."
The coalition said East Germany could become a member of NATO for a transitional period until Europe was unified but that NATO must be modified to de-emphasize its military character.
The government also signaled that although its members are financed by West German political parties, it will not be the compliant negotiating partner many expect.
Thursday's agreement called for monetary and social union with West Germany by July 1 and the conversion of East German into West German currency, mark for mark. West Germany, however, wants to limit the number of East German marks it will convert to keep inflation down.
The coalition put together by de Maiziere controls three-quarters of the Volkskammer's 400 votes, so his election as prime minister and the swearing in of his 23-member Cabinet was only a formality. The vote for de Maiziere was 265-108, with nine abstentions and 18 legislators absent.
The new coalition replaces the Communist caretaker government that had been running the country since the hard-line government of Erich Honecker was forced out in October.
by CNB