Reagan Gains Favor in W. Europe: West Europeans Shift Attitudes On Question of 2d Reagan Term
BONN, Oct. 4ÛÓWestern Europeans, impressed by the vigor of the U.S. economic recovery and what appears to be a more conciliatory approach toward the Soviet Union, are looking more favorably at the prospect of a second-term Reagan administration.</br></br>The allies are hopeful that after devoting his first term to building the countryÛªs military strength and self-confidence, a reelected President Reagan would be prepared to take bold initiatives to curtail nuclear weapons and improve relations with Moscow, according to government officials in Paris, London and Bonn.</br></br>ship qualities. Europeans never have been comfortable with the notion of an actor presiding over the worldÛªs most powerful country, nor have they forgotten the gaffes in which Reagan seemed to portray himself as a happy-go-lucky nuclear warrior.</br></br>But in the past year, much of the blame for the hiatus in arms control has been shifted to the Soviet Union. European diplomats are convinced that the decision to walk out of the Geneva arms talks and to freeze East-West dialogue hurt Moscow badly in terms of Western European public opinion and took the pressure off Reagan.</br></br>ÛÏIn the early 1980s, the lack of arms control was in good part Reagan's fault,Û said a British official.