The debate over European defense reflected a broader shift in Soviet attitudes in the late 1980s regarding developments in Western Europe. In the 1970s and early 1980s the greater self-confidence and assertiveness of Western Europe had generally been welcomed and seen as undermining United States influence within NATO. Gorbachev’s remark at the 27th Party Congress had largely reflected this perspective. By the late 1980s, however, Soviet officials and analysts were beginning to take a more differentiated view of these developments. The critical West European reaction to the Reykjavik summit and the fears of “denuclearization” prompted by the INF treaty, especially in France and Great Britain, contributed to growing recognition that this new West European self-assertiveness might not always work to Soviet advantage