France Foreign Relations West Germany

French President Francois Mitterrand disclosed Thursday that France and West Germany are planning to set up a joint defense council. Mitterrand made this known at a press conference marking the end of the largest-ever maneuvers involving French troops in West Germany, an exercise designed to show that France could come to the aid of its neighbor in the event of an attack by Warsaw Pact forces. Of the plan to form a defense council, Mitterrand said: "Conversations are taking place.

The four-power agreement on Berlin was signed in the city on Sept. 3, 1971, by the U.S., British and French ambassadors to West Germany and the Soviet ambassador to East Germany. It went into effect June 3, 1972. Here are its key provisions: Road, rail and waterway traffic between West Germany and West Berlin would be unimpeded and facilitated. West Berliners would be able to visit East Berlin and East Germany on the same terms as West Germans.

President Francois Mitterrand and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said Saturday that they are in full agreement on the guarantees that should accompany a Soviet-American deal to withdraw medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe. Speaking after 5 1/2 hours of talks in a 16th-Century royal chateau here, the two leaders told reporters that their positions are the same but did not go into details. "I think we agree," Kohl said as Mitterrand nodded in agreement.

On a day heavy with history and rich in optimism, the principal World War II powers came together Saturday to plan the reunification of Germany and the beginning of a new European order.

As a reminder of German brutality, the French have never rebuilt the ruins of the village of Oradour near Limoges in central France. In retaliation against French resistance during World War II, a German SS division executed all of the village's 190 men by machine gun, rounded up 452 women and children into a church, burned it to the ground as they screamed inside, then razed the village. Nor have the French forgotten Verdun, where between 600,000 and 1.

The Bush Administration, reacting to concerns that the two Germanys are moving too independently toward quick reunification, announced Tuesday that East and West Germany will hold their first formal meeting on reunification next week with the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The date and site of the sub-cabinet-level talks have not yet been announced.

West German police have arrested a man suspected of taking part in operations of the French terrorist gang Direct Action, officials said Wednesday. Court sources close to the French investigation of Direct Action identified the man as Renaud Laigle, 29, suspected of bombings and robberies in Lyon and Paris. The sources said Laigle fled to West Germany in March, 1986, after an international arrest warrant was issued for him.

West Germany and France agreed Friday to establish a joint committee to coordinate finance and economic policy. They also agreed to cooperate in two military ventures. The economic move was seen as a response to the international financial crisis and the lack of clear direction from Washington. It extended to the field of finance the concept of a "European identity" in Western strategic thinking put forward by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President Francois Mitterrand.