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Dutch Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek also expected more than he received. During a meeting with Gromyko in Moscow, he reiterated the Dutch position that the Netherlands planned to go ahead with Euromissile deployment only if the number of Soviet SS-20s pointed at Europe this November exceeded the number in place last June. NATO figures show an increase of roughly ten missiles already. Van den Broek said that Gromyko did not dispute that estimate and that the Soviet Foreign Minister seemed unwilling to make any concessions or any effort to understand the Dutch point of view.
It now remains for the Administration to make up its mind whether it wants a full-dress "summit" or a less formal "meeting" or both in the next year or so. At a summit the U.S. would insist on four basic areas of discussion: arms control, regional conflicts, human rights and bilateral matters like cultural exchanges and trade. The presummit bargaining on such an agenda would probably take months. By contrast, a get-acquainted meeting could be prepared for much faster. Such a meeting, however, is riskier, for it might be impossible to script the outcome.
Gorbachev faces the same questions. He may decide that getting acquainted is not good enough and hold out for a summit. Most analysts argue, however, that a meeting of any sort is more in Gorbachev's interest than in Reagan's. It would help him to consolidate his own hold on power at home and increase his influence in Europe. It would also give him a chance to affect American policy, since summitry tends to muzzle the U.S. on other areas of mutual contention. The pressure to reach agreements is felt more acutely in the U.S. than in the Soviet Union, where public opinion is not a concern in policymaking. Moreover, Gorbachev seems to have the kind of personal assurance that could be effective in face-to-face confrontation with Reagan.
Reagan, of course, is not exactly lacking in personal assurance. He faces a different problem. Having opened the summitry game, he and his aides are now visibly struggling to figure out how they want to play.