Sharing the Burden

When the Western allies restored West German sovereignty in 1955, an implicit part of the bargain in allied eyes was German responsibility to help support the NATO defense troops on its soil until West Germany could provide a full-sized force of its own. Since then the German buildup has lagged; the allied troops have had to stay on but the Germans have begrudged every pfennig the allies asked for their support. When Britain presented its bill for the current year, Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss flatly refused to pay, and was backed by the Cabinet. Germany needed the money to build up its own defense forces, said Strauss. To a French claim for funds Strauss warned bluntly, "They will get a no from us too." Even the intervention of NATO Secretary General Paul-Henri Spaak failed to budge the Germans.

Last week Strauss tried to cool British resentment with an offer to advance Britain $280 million against future German armament buying. Britain could use the cash to bolster foreign currency reserves, but such a "loan" was hardly a substitute for the funds it needs to help support its 60,000-man Rhine army.

The dispute may end before the NATO Council, where Britain and France can point to the fact that Germany has been contributing less than 4% of its gross national product to the Western military effort compared with 9% for Britain, 7% for France, almost 12% for the U.S. To add insult to injury, as tax-weary Britons noted last week, Bonn's latest budget proposal includes a sweeping tax reduction that will eliminate income taxes completely for some 3,000,000 Germans.

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