A Litmus Test for Europe : NATO faces a key, $300-million question

America’s NATO allies say they want the United States to keep a substantial number of troops in Western Europe, but their readiness to pay more to support those forces is in doubt.

One indication of their mood could come in the next few days. Washington has asked NATO to pick up much of the cost of maintaining facilities and equipment--mostly in Germany-- that are kept ready for use by U.S. troops in time of crisis. American officials say they see the issue as a litmus test of the Europeans’ willingness to assume more of the common defense burden.

Washington wants various fuel dumps, hospitals, arms depots and armored vehicle parks made eligible for funding from NATO’s infrastructure program, a $1-billion-plus fund to which the United States contributes 28%.

If the allies agree, a major portion of the $300 million a year now spent on the facilities would in effect become a European responsibility.

Most of the European NATO members have acknowledged for years that they ought to be doing more for their own defense. They are right, and here is a chance to show that they mean what they say.

It is a decision that Congress will be watching closely. The Bush Administration’s defense planning calls for cutting U.S. troop strength in Europe to 150,000 by 1995, about half the peak level during the decades of confrontation with the Warsaw Pact. But outside the Administration, calls are being heard to reduce that number to as few as 50,000, enough to emphasize the continuing U.S. commitment to Europe’s defense and maintain the headquarters and logistic units around which a rapid buildup in an emergency could take place.

Economics inevitably will help drive the choices made. Are the Europeans ready, now, to assume greater burden-sharing? What they will soon decide is certain to have a major impact on the force-level debate.