Czechoslovak Minister Urges United Europe

With the help of the United States, European nations should break down "barriers of the past" and work toward political union, the Czechoslovakian Minister of Foreign Affairs said at a speech last night.

In a lecture sponsored by Harvard's Center for International Affairs, Jiri Dienstbier said recent events have provided real hope that Europe's traditionally hostile states can construct a new community, in which the military balance of power is not the sole determinant of politics.

"1989 was a year of hope," Dienstiber said to a packed Geological Lecture Hall. "1990 no doubt is a year of decisions."

Dienstbier attacked skeptics of European integration efforts, and said they were "incapable of viewing poitics as an expression of human freedom." But he said integration attempts would fail unless the Soviet Union could peacefully restructure its political and economic systems, and unless an "all-Europe" political system could be created without NATO.

"We have nothing against NATO...but we believe it doesn't help us to have a large conglomerate power in Europe," said Dienstbier, adding that the "USSR is not the monolith it used to be."

"Who will NATO defend itself against...Havel's Czechoslovakia?" Dienstbier asked.

Dienstbier was quick to say, however, that the transformation would be slow, and that a diminishing role for NATO does not mean a diminishing role for the United States.

In fact, Dienstbier said the United States must play a vital role in reconstructing the Eastern European and Soviet economies. He said the United States, which rebuilt post-war Western Europe with the Marshall Plan, should now help the both the burgeoning democracies in the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union.

Dienstbier quoted Czech President Vaclav Havel's belief that "America can best help [Czechoslovakia] by helping the USSR."

Dienstbier proposed that Western nations funnel $16 billion in economic aid to the Soviet Union. Over a ten-year period, Dienstbier said, that proposal would promote Eastern European modernization and trade.

Although he admitted that the proposal's developers knew it to be "imperfect," Dienstbier denied that it was "too fantastic," and said the investment would ultimately save money that otherwise would go to military expenditures.

Dienstbier has been active in Czechoslovakian politics since 1958, when he began working as a foriegn policy radio commentator.

Although banished from the Communist party and barred from journalism after his participation in the Prague Spring of 1968, Dienstbier maintained his activity in Czechoslovak politics and played a decisive role in last year's revolution.