1989 Reports

The Soviet Union and Western Europe: Divided Continent or Common House?

Stent, Angela

Mikhail Gorbachev’s dynamic, innovative foreign policy has evoked a major reaction in most parts of the world, but nowhere has the response been as sympathetic — and as active — as in Western Europe. Indeed, the Soviet leader may have more support in Western Europe than at home, where the Soviet population has yet to experience the material benefits of perestroika. The enthusiastic reception that the West German public gave him on his recent trip to Bonn indicates just how popular he is in Western Europe. Moreover, West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher’s plea to “take Gorbachev at his word” and actively assist the Soviet Union in its economic and political reform process has been echoed by most West European leaders. They believe that a stronger, economically more viable Soviet Union — one in which perestroika has succeeded — will enhance Western security.