ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to profile how North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries of the MBFR guidelines area may have been considering reductions they would eventually undertake in an MBFR agreement. It focuses on Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), and the Netherlands. On December 3, 1969, the NATO Defence Planning Committee came to the conclusion that the disparities between NATO and WTO ground forces were such that symmetrical reductions could not be considered as a negotiating posture for NATO. During the first years of the MBFR negotiations the three NATO countries in the relevant area undertook to reform their armed forces. The reform of the armed forces in the FRG has been said to be MBFR-neutral during negotiations and to be compatible with MBFR goals.
