1 Germany's call for a 'new trans-Atlantic agenda' that goes beyond NATO will be up for discussion at the White House when Chancellor Helmut Kohl calls on President Clinton.
2 It also gets an airing on Capitol Hill, where some senior Republicans meeting with Kohl today are clamoring to lift the arms embargo against Bosnia's Muslim-led government.
3 Germany's emergence as the dominant power in Europe is likely to mean any decisions taken by Clinton and Kohl on NATO's expansion, dealing with Russia and on Bosnia will carry special weight.
4 'Chancellor Kohl has a special relationship with President Clinton,' Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke said in an interview. 'This has been evidenced several times. It goes well beyond their well-advertised affection for Italian food.'
5 Kohl was to meet Clinton today before going to Capitol Hill. The German leader was concluding a busy one-day agenda with a state dinner held by Clinton.
6 NATO is deciding in 1995 whether to expand eastward -- and risk intensified Russian displeasure and anxiety that a new bloc is nearing its border.
7 Actually, Defense Secretary William Perry told a House committee Wednesday, many of the former Soviet bloc countries joining NATO's Partnership for Peace will never become full members of the alliance.
8 Some congressional Republicans are pressing the administration to set a timetable for admission of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to full NATO membership.
9 Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski have complained the administration is moving too slowly.
10 But Holbrooke stressed that a full year has been set aside for study and discussion. Expansion will be considered at NATO's winter meeting in December.
11 'Partnership for Peace is going to be for some countries a halfway house, for others a transition (to membership in NATO),' he said.
12 German officials, meanwhile, sent word in advance of Kohl's visit that Germany was not trying to 'apply the brakes' to a larger NATO.
13 At the same time, German Defense Minister Volker Ruehe said last weekend at a security conference in Munich that 'Europe and America need a new trans-Atlantic agenda encompassing the spectrum of political, economic and military issues.'
14 British and French officials have made similar statements.
15 Holbrooke called European 'security architecture' an overriding issue in the Kohl-Clinton meeting and said it was moving on four parallel tracks: NATO, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and NATO's relations with Russia.
16 Along the way, the Clinton administration hopes Kohl will approve German participation in U.N.-sanctioned peacekeeping operations now that German courts have ruled such a role is not constitutionally prohibited.
17 'This is something the Germans can decide,' Holbrooke said. 'We do not fear -- we would welcome -- Germany's participation in international peacekeeping.'
18 The Pentagon already has analyzed German participation and concluded Germany cam make an important contribution to peacekeeping operations.
19 Kohl's visit to Capitol Hill has been described in some reports as a chance to find out how much power Clinton has in Washington now that Republicans have taken control of Congress.
20 But Holbrooke was not uneasy.
21 'The chancellor and other foreign leaders always go to the Hill, whoever controls the Congress, and it's perfectly appropriate,' he said. 'There is bipartisan support for America's commitment to Europe.'

" Chancellor Kohl has a special relationship with President Clinton , " Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke said in an interview . " This has been evidenced several times . It goes well beyond their well - advertised affection for Italian food . "
" This has been evidenced several times
How has this been evidenced?