_MEMORANDUM_
27 June 1996
To: All Participants
From: Senator George J. Mitchell
General John de Chastelain
Prime Minister Harri Holkeri
Subject: _GROUND RULES PAPER_
1. We have reviewed the responses to the questions we posed on 25 June regarding the Ground Rules. This review and consideration of the views expressed during the discussions of the past several days\, lead to the following conclusions:
a. Both Governments remain firmly committed to the Ground Rules Paper.
b. The political parties differed. Several supported the Governments' view. Some noted they had entered the elective process and the negotiations (1) on the basis that these were defined in the Ground Rules Paper and (2) they were entitled to rely on the presumption that this definition would remain valid for the negotiations.
c. Other parties rejected the Governments' view. Some noted they had indicated publicly, including before the elections, that they did not accept the Ground Rules Paper.
d. It seems unlikely that any of these positions will change.
2. However\, it seems accepted on all sides that the conduct of the negotiations should be in accordance with rules of procedure drawn up and agreed by the participants. Such rules could be drafted so as to provide a single document sufficient to allow the Chairmen to conduct the business of meetings without prejudice to the view of the Governments or any political party as to the status of the Ground Rules Paper.
3. The participants might consider working on the draft rules of procedure with this goal in mind. At the end of that drafting exercise\, participants might then consider whether a sufficiently workable basis for the conduct of meetings had been achieved. As noted in paragraph 2 above\, this would be without prejudice to the view of the Governments or any political party as to the status of the Ground Rule Papers.
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