
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 22, 1990                   TAG: 9003221815
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

BUSH: POLES MUST HAVE `VOICE' IN GERMAN TALKS

President Bush on Wednesday offered fresh assurances to Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki that the Polish people have a "fundamental right to exist within their present borders."

But in greeting the first democratically elected leader of Poland since World War II, Bush failed to back full Polish participation in talks on German unification.

"In any decisions affecting the fate of Poland, Poland must have a voice," Bush said to applause from a large crowd, including many Polish-Americans, on the White House lawn.

Administration officials said the president had not changed the U.S. position, however, which supports a seat for Poland at German unification talks only when Polish border issues are discussed. Only East and West Germany plus the United States, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union would be full participants.

Mazowiecki, who accepted red and white flowers from children dressed in colorful Polish traditional costumes, praised the "special" closeness between Americans and the Polish people.

However, in a reference to the German question, he also warned that the "present crucial acceleration of history" is putting the U.S.-Polish partnership to a "test."

Bush played down the differences over the Polish role in the unification talks. "We're really not that far apart," he remarked as the two leaders began their private talks.

by CNB