Joint Paris-Bonn Stand on ‘Star Wars’ Indicated

BONN —  West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher on Tuesday indicated that the French and West German governments plan to develop a joint position on President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative that could serve as the basis of a common stance in Western Europe on the controversial issue.

In a written statement on European technical cooperation, Genscher noted efforts to forge a united position on the Reagan program to research space-based defenses against missiles, a system nicknamed “Star Wars.”

“As already proposed with the French government, it involves a French-German position as the starting point of a European position to which other interested European countries are invited to help develop,” he said.

Both Genscher and French External Relations Minister Roland Dumas last month in Brussels indicated possible Franco-German cooperation in response to the Reagan initiative, but Tuesday’s statement was viewed as the clearest sign yet that the two largest technologically advanced European countries would actually conclude such an arrangement.

Disarmament specialists here also noted it was the first time such an agreement was described as a starting point for a broader European stance.

Most West European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have voiced serious reservations about Reagan’s plan for a space-based missile defense system but have endorsed the $26-billion research phase of the project.

Europeans fear that the idea could trigger an arms race in space and reduce America’s interest in defending Europe. For France and Britain, a Soviet-American space defense race would render their own modest nuclear forces useless.

To help increase interest in the project, Reagan has offered European allies the possibility of lucrative research contracts.

Disarmament specialists believe that by working together, the Europeans would be better able to exert their political views and also push more effectively for access to high technology. A common stance would also make it more difficult for Washington to play favorites among competing European countries in return for stronger political backing.

In his remarks, Genscher stressed the need for European technological cooperation on all fronts. “Progress in expanding the European technological community will to a large extent determine the future of Europe,” he said.

West Germans are especially concerned that Europe has slipped behind the United States and Japan in the last two decades in key areas, including microelectronics. France envisions itself leading a European technology renaissance.

Genscher also expressed interest in a French proposal that the two countries build a military reconnaissance satellite.