Off-again, on-again talks: more German confusion

September 8, 1980

Confusion over the future of a postponed East-West German summit meeting deepened Sunday with a report in the West German weekly Der Spiegel that East Berlin has told Bonn privately that the meeting can go ahead in December. It came two days after the official East German news agency said Communist Party leader Erich Honecker's busy schedule ruled out a resetting of the meeting with Chancellor Helmut Schmidt before late next year. Mr. Schmidt called off a planned visit to East Germany at short notice two weeks ago because of the labor crisis in Poland.