BANGEMANN DENIES NEWSPAPER INTERVIEW ON SUBSIDIES
The West German Economics Minister today
denied giving a newspaper interview which quoted him as saying
the state could not continue to pour money into the country's
ailing steel and coal industries.
    Economics Ministry spokesman Dieter Vogel said in a
statement Bangemann had contacted him from New Zealand, where
he is attending a General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT)
ministerial meeting, to deny giving the interview to the
conservative daily Die Welt. The paper quoted Bangemann as
saying that continued subsidies would endanger other parts of
the German economy by making them uncompetitive.
    Vogel said Bangemann had pledged that everything possible
would be done to minimize the effects of reduced coal and steel
production on the workforces and regions concerned.
    Die Welt said the interview with Bangemann had taken place
at a meeting of his Free Democratic Party (FDP) in Darmstadt
last Friday, adding that it had a tape recording of his
comments which it would publish tomorrow.
 Reuter
