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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990                   TAG: 9006080029
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Short

WARSAW PACT'S NEW AGENDA: ADAPTATION

Leaders of the Warsaw Pact on Thursday began transforming their 35-year-old alliance from a military to a political body, declaring the "enemy image" of East and West a thing of the past.

Members of the Kremlin-led alliance also discussed various roles for a united Germany in Europe, said Deputy Foreign Minister Yuli Kvitsinsky, but he indicated there was no agreement.

The leaders also declared their "readiness for constructive cooperation" with archrival NATO.

They said they favor the formation of a new, "all-European security system and the creation of a single Europe of peace and cooperation."

To do this, it has become necessary "to reconsider the character and functions of the Warsaw Treaty," its members said in a declaration adopted at the meeting.

Soviet and East European sources have said that the envisioned new political structure of the Warsaw Pact would be patterned roughly after the NATO secretariat and council in Brussels.

"We have to broaden the consultative basis of the Warsaw Treaty Organization activities, and perhaps we should go in the direction of curtailing the military structures," Kvitsinsky said.

Romanian President Ion Iliescu said the view at the meeting was unanimous to focus on the political nature of the organization, founded 35 years ago.

by CNB