Summits Damage Control

The tall, ruddy-cheeked West German and the pale, intense Frenchman stood outside the monastery church at Birnau, overlooking Lake Constance, near the West German-Swiss border. A Cistercian monk uttered words of welcome. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl lifted his arms to the skies, clear after a daylong rain, and smiled: "Thank you, Prior, for we have been praying all day for the weather to improve." The quip brought a laugh from Kohl's companion, French President Francois Mitterrand.

It was a rare moment of levity in an otherwise dour and downbeat Franco-West German summit meeting between the two leaders. Five hours of discussion had failed to dissipate a growing malaise between Paris and Bonn, much less restore the intimate Franco-German relationship that flourished under ex- President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. The current differences, over trade talks and agricultural prices, seem certain to hinder progress toward greater West European unity. More important, on the prickly issue of Star Wars and Ronald Reagan's invitation to West Europeans to join in the U.S.'s Strategic Defense Initiative research program, the best that could be said after the summit was that the two European leaders agreed to disagree.

Neither side could deny what Mitterrand called their "evident divergence" on Star Wars. French officials claimed to be pleased by West German pledges not to join the U.S. program until Bonn's specific demands are met -- despite Kohl's personal endorsement of the scheme last month. Mitterrand had previously rejected the Reagan proposal on strategic and political grounds. The French appreciated Kohl's remarks on the necessity of West European technological cooperation, particularly his support for a French-sponsored project to create an agency to pool efforts in space-age laser and particle- beam research.

The meeting also failed to clear up what Paris regards as serious contradictions in other West German positions. Kohl, for example, has accepted President Reagan's request to set an early date for a new round of global trade-liberalization talks. Mitterrand has balked, arguing that such negotiations would invite U.S. attacks on West European farm policies and high agricultural tariffs. Finally, the French decry West Germany's refusal, at European Community agricultural-policy negotiations in Brussels three weeks ago, to accept cereal-price reductions that would hurt West German grain farmers.

Before leaving for Paris, Mitterrand conceded that disagreement remained on Star Wars, but warned against drawing "excessive conclusions." While acknowledging obstacles, he also insisted that "the Franco-German relationship is, to the Chancellor's eyes and mine, fundamental for the success of Europe." In the absence of firm agreements, it seemed that the two leaders had fallen back on a bottom-line goal: to limit damage and ensure that the current discord does not widen.