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10. Is there a danger of a conservative backlash which could threaten President Gorbachev's position as well as political reforms in the Soviet Union? Now when President Gorbachev has
acquired more powers, will he go ahead with the reforms or will
he slow down?
It is always possible that rapid change in any country will lead to what you describe as a backlash. But no-one has come forward with a coherent alternative to perestroika. is that the pace of reform will become even faster.
My own view
11. With so much unrest prevailing in its republics, do you think the Soviet Union will crack up as a united country?
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There are obviously great difficulties. But President Gorbachev is carrying through constitutional reforms which will give the individual republics a far greater degree of sovereignty, and even the right to secede provided that they go through the constitutional procedures.
12. Will a united Germany guarantee peaceful borders with its neighbours, particularly Poland? Are Britain and other allied powers going to insist on a treaty on the sanctity of these borders or will the question be allowed to remain open?
I made clear when Polish Prime Minister Mazowiecki visited London recently that I fully supported Poland's wishes for its border with a united Germany to be guaranteed by a Treaty. I was therefore very pleased when the Federal German Parliament adopted a resolution, brought forward by the governing coalition, which confirmed that there would be such a Treaty with Poland after unification, and added that the Germans had no territorial claims on Poland.
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