JPRS ID: 9517 WEST EUROPE REPORT

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• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00850R000300070052-4
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• Sequence Number: 52
• Content Type: REPORTS

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- JPRS L/9517
_ 30 January 1981 _
W~st Euro e Re ort
p p
(FOUO 5/81)
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_ NOTE
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JPR,S L/9517
30 January 1981
~ .
WEST EUROPE REPORT
(FOUO S/81)
CONTENTS
~roxc~s
F~ANCE
On Patrol With Nuclear Submarine 'L'Indomptable'
_ (Claude Azoulay; PARTS MATCH, 28 Nov 80) 1
COUNTRY SEGTION
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
French-German Trade, Currency Imbalance Needs Remec~y
' (Philippe Durupt; VALEURS ACTUELLES, 10-16 Nov 80) 4
BELGIUM
VMO's ~iksson Discusses Iiis Ideas, Actions by PC
. (POURQUOI PAS?~ 30 Oct 80) 8
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GFRMANY
FRG Journal Looks Into Bonn Arms Fxports
(Kurt Breme, Mario R. Dederichs; STEEt~T, 22 Jan 81) 12
FRANCE
Analysi~ of Giscard-Barre Tension: Policies, Ambitions '
(Georges Manqy; LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR, 24 Nov 80) 17
PCF Launches Anti-Immigration Campaign ~
(Francine Rivaud; L'EXPRESS, 15 Nov 80) 21
Analysis of PCF Plan: Li.ke 1972 But With Important Changes
' (Roget Priouret; LE NOWEL OBSERVATEUR, 1-7 Dec 80) 23
Mirage 2000 Te~t Conditions, Results
(ATR & COSMUS, 13 Dec 80) .................................e..... 25
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Briefs
Police Director I~eaves 27
Defense Ministry OfPice Heads 27
Ne~r SDEG'E Director ~7
Qatar Good F..~nple 27
Helicopter Program 7'hreatened 27 ~
ITALY
Businessman Mario Rendo Zb Expand Activities in Sici~}r
(Nicola Pressburger; PANORAM~, 1 Dec 80) 28
MALTA
Preffiier Details Conf'rontation With Libya, Foreign Policy
- (~'ad Abu Mausur; AL-WATAN AIr'ARABI, 26 Dec 80) 33
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THEATER FORCES gg~~ -
ON PATROI. WITH NUCLEAR SU~MARINE 'L'IND(7MPTABLE'
Paris PARIS MATCH in French 28 Nov 80 pp 30-37
[Article by Claude Azoulay: "Submerged With the INDOTlPTABLE"]
[Text] For the first time a~ ournalist has spent four days
on board the most secret of the French nuclear submarines.
The "Tonnant," the "Redoutable," and the "Indomptable"
leave their base on Ile Longue in Breot. They reach deep
water to submerge. This is a secret operation. The cap-
tain, Jean-Marie Mathey, stands before the firing panel
! with the missile officer near him.
~ _ . _ _ _
~These tlirze dark shadows which furtively leave the base on Ile Longue at dusk are
nuclear submarines of the French Strategic Oceau Force. For Che first time a
~ournalist, Claude Azoulay, special correspondent of PARIS MATCH, has seen and ~
shared the life of the crew of a submarine of the deterence force. On board,
everyone is at his "diving posts." The ships will disappe~r ir_to another world. -
Silent, speedy, invisible, undetectable, each one will slide through the oceans
to reach its patrol zone, which is a se cret, carrying weapons in its hulls whose
overall power represet~ts several thous~d Cimes the power of the Hiroshfma bomb.
Once on the high seas, nothing can find them. On1y the president of France and
the chief of the FOST [Frencl: Strategic ~cean r~rce], Vice Adm Claude Pieri, know
their course. They pick up all messages without transmittisg any and thus can
- receive ordprs in codes, without which allies or enQmies would not know from where
these orders are coming and to whom theS� are addressed.
Moreover, last Tuesday [25 November] the president explained in a televisioa
broadcast the tErrible power of which he is the only holder: giving the order
to launch a submarine nuclear missile. During the two to three months of its
mission, for the crew, the mystery is total. They do not know where they are.
Today five SNLE (Missile-launching ~Tuclear Submarines) make up our deterence
fleet. They are of the "Kedoutable" type, the first ship to go into operations
in December, 1971. A sixth submarine of a new generation, Che "Inflexible," is
under conscruction. Claude Azoulay sp~nt four days on board the "Indomptable"
during tests at the beginning of the patrol. Picked up at sea by a helicopter,
he tells the story.
On the Sunc~ay Menu, Shellfish St. Jacques and Crayfish
--In the cafeteria, reserved for petty officers and the crew, the atmosphere is
rather relaa:ed. But to be admitted there, I must ask p~rmission of the president -
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nf the mess, who is the longest-serving non-commissioned officer on board. Tradi-
tiun requires this. The cafet~ria is where the crew eats its meals at two �
sittings. The menu is always varied. Fresh vegetables and f ruits during the first
days of the patrol. Then follow refrigerated, frozen, and dehydrated foods which
are conaumed before canned foods, perhape waiting for the day when surnival pills
will be consLrtned! In effect, only a shortage of food would require an SNLE, in .
case of war, to surface. PuYified air, purer than that "on land", water and
energy are provided by the nuclear reactor. The crew could spend year~ at the
bottom of the ocean, like the crew of Captain Nemo, hero of the Jules Verne novel,
if their psychological resistance would permit it. Invulnersble, unknown in terms
of location, the "Iridomptable" leaves no trace of its presence. Even garbage is
- comp~cted by a three ton press into perforated, metal cylinders, which are expelled _
Lmder the control of the second in command and sink into the depths. The SN;,E
today, thanks to the depth~ which it can reach, is undetectable to any systen `
presently known. In case of emergency four ships of the "Redoutable" type would
be on mission at the same time. Bet~,~een watches everyone rel~es in acc~rdance
with his tastes: home-trainer (published in English), jogging, card playing, ~
reading, and movies. Every day from his command post somewhere ir. France Vice-
Adm Pieri, their commander, sends them by radio a few lines af information sum-
marizing the news. This is th~:ir daily newspaper, the only contact which they
have wirh the wor.ld.
Three Months Submerged at a Depth of 300 Meters
--Darkness, pipes, tight quarters, ladders. In descending into the belly of this
black monster l did not lmow that I was going to find a whole world, a factory,
a city, a fortress, and a tension continuously maintained among a group of inen
where everyone knows that he is responsible for his life and also that of the others.
Under the orders of a full captain [capitaine de fregate] 134 officers, warrant
officers, and seamen, all volunteers, including five sailors doing their national
military service, for months will live, cut off from the world, specifically directed
on performing their mission. All of them have a~recisely defined t~sk which they
carry out with rigorous discipline, aware of their duty and of their responsibility.
A neophyte is first astonished by the small amount of living space left for a man.
Everything is earmarked, for equipment and for the operation of it. In the command _
and operations room [PG'NO] the personnel on watch are tense, each one concentrated
on the work at his post. The steersmen, belted to their seats, the officers at
the navigation table, the radio operators in the radio roam which is strictly off-
limits, the Skipper [Pacha), all have serious expressions on their faces. Not the
slightest sm~le, not the slightest wink of an eye among them. Is it because as
an exceptior~al matter the admiral is there, as he is before every departure on
patrol? No. They know that they are on an operation, that they hold the destiny
of the earth in their hands, and that they are ready, in a few minutes, to unleash
the end of the world. In effect, of the three components of deterence, land, air,
and sea, the SNLE represents up to now and no doubt for a long time something on
which national defense can count 100 percent. I, as a~ournalist hesitate to
disturb the crew with questions which I could ask later, in the officers' quarters
in a completely normal and Welcoming setting, which could be that of any family
livingroom or diningroom, with uphalstered and comfortable chairs. There is even
an aquarium and a green plazit.
Under thESe Command Panels, 640 Times the Power of the Hiroshima Bomb
We are on the "missile deck," which is the holy of holi~s. It is from there that
a cataclysm would be unleashed.
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liowev~-,r, :f.t is there, above atl, that "deterence" rests. The threat which these
nucl.~~~ir. explosives represent saves peace. I was able to look at this compartment.
I~ takes an erfort of imagination to realize that it would take a simple gesture
o� a finger to sen3 to a city or a concentration of armies terror and death. And
- that would come from the bottom of the sea, secure from any surprise. The missiles
can officially go up to 4,000 1~, but in reality their range remains secrei,. The
present ~hins will benefit from the improvements schedules on the "Inflexible":
' modernization of the systems of navigation and of sonar, increase 3n the depth of ~
submergence, and, above all, increase in the power of the weapons. The launching
silos will be made larger to accommodate M4 missiles with multiple heads. "A
modernized submarine," Vice Adm Pieri told me, "will threaten at the same time
_ more than 100 ob~ectives. With four ships at sea, that would mean 420 possible
targets. Ten targets, more or less doesn't matter. Our defense there is eminently
a matter of deterence. That must make any sensible man reflect." After having -
left the ship, with the admiral, picked up by a helicopter Super-Frelon of the
Navy, I saw the men who had guarded our security, the operations officer [CGO], -
and the "Bosco," a petty officer responsible for delicate maneuvers whom everyone
calls "boss," go back inside the ship quickly. The "Indomptable" disappeared in "
an enoYmous swirl of foam. Up close, it seemed to be immens~. And then, very
quickly, nothing was visible any more in the swell of the sea. Captain Jean-Marie
Mathey and his 134 crew members were on their mission.
[Photo captiona, page 32] In the officers' quarters: standing, a midshipman doing
his natiunal service stands and reads the menu. By tradition the service is very
formal. Next below, the maitre d'hotel in white coat serves coffee. Next below,
right next to the nuclear reactor, physical training. Next below, sacking the
garbage, an operation which is essential for security; Captain Huet, second in
command, personally supervises the disposal of trash. Opposite, in the cafeteria,
the young sailo~s are in a group; the older sailors and the petty officers look
like old seawolves.
[Photo caption, page 33] On board the "Indomptable," in the control room, at the
time the submarine submerges. Captain Mathey, 44 years old, is at the periscope.
- This is taken in the light of the command post, which changes in intensity,
whether it is day or night on the surface.
[Photo caption, page 34] The "Missile Deck": this is the strategic point of the
submarine, the stage where the controls for the launching of the nuclear missiles
are found, which cannot be released except by the order of the president alone.
1 This photo was takan by Claude Azoulay from the Super-Frelon which has just picked .
him up, together with Vice Adm Pieri. Now, Captain Mathey, skipper of the
"Indomptable," is master on board, afCer God.
COPYRIGHT: 1980 par Cogedipresse SA
5170
CSO: 3100
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COUNTRY SECTTON INTF~AATTONAL AFFAIRS
.
FRENCH-GERMAN TRADE, CURRENCY Il~ALANCE NEEDS REMEDY
Paris VALEURS ACTUELLES in French 10-16 Nov 80 pp 41-42
[Article by Philippe Durupt "The Currency Paradox"; passages enclosed in slant lines
printed in boldface]
[Text] The Bank of France is now the one that is supporting Ge rman
currency. The exchange rate for the French franc affects rhe c om-
petitiveness of French manufacturers.
The Bank of France is flying to the aid of the deutsche mark and is drawing 10 bil- -
lion francs from its reserves in order to maintain the deutsche mark at p ar with
, our currency, which has become too strong for it.
' This is not an exercise in science fiction. Barre is winning his monetary bet even
as he is losing his economic wager (high inflation, weak investments). The two are
linked.
In February 1978 (a year before the creation of the European monetary s s tem the -
deutsche mark was worth 2.33 francs. Today, 33 months later, it is worth only 2.30
francs.
During the same period, French inflation has gone up to 36 percent, more than twice
the German inflation (15 percent). French production costs have increase d at least
20 percent more than those of our neighbors.
i It would have been logical for the exchange parity between the two currencies to be
modified so as to offset this enormous handicap for French competitivene s s. The
~ deutsche mark should have been reevaluated in relation to the franc. No thing o�
the sort occurred--quite the contrary!
/Germany has been directly hit/ by the third oil shock. For the first time since
November 1965, its trade balance showed a deficit of 110 million deutsche marks last
August. Over the whole year its trade surplus, still positive, will be reduced in
relation to previous years.
Its current account, which includes the transfers of "invisibles" in add i tion to
the transfers of inerchandise, will be short by some 27 billion deutsche marks. The
main cause of tris is the enormous expenditures of German tourists abroad. Topping
it all, the capital outflows are aggravating the overall deficit.
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On the impetus of p revious years (a strong deutsche mark), German manufacturers
~ontinue to invest heavily abroad, where production conditions are the most favor~-
able (Southeast Asia, the United States, etc.).
The holders of petrodollars are cutting back their investments in Germany, where =
the rates are low as compared with the American rates. Conversely, foreign in-
vestors are trying to borrow more from German banks. '
/These three source s of capital outflows/ are raising the pressure on the deutsche
mark and forcing the Bundesbank to break into its foreign exchange reserves. The
German leaders would have every reason to worry about such a trend if it were to
continue. Nothing is less certain.
Admittedly, Germany did not react to the lateGt hike in its oil. bill by as rapid
a de~elopment of i ts exports to OPEC as in 1974. But this is due to circumstances
that do not involve its competitiveness, which has remained intact thanks to four
successive years of heavy investments.
It is due to the loss of the Iranian market, for which West Germany was the primary
suppli.er, as well as to the slowdown in purchases of industrial equipment by the
other OPEC countries. 'I'he destructions of the Irano-Iraqi war will someday bring
about a resumption of the tr..:se paCterns with this area of the world.
The recession which has been hitting Germany for six months and which is bound to .
last throughout ].981 will curb its imports while encouraging German tourists to
reduce their expenditures outside r.heir borders.
Finally, while investments abroad are pressing heavily on the deutsche mark today, _
they hold the promise of future foreign currency receipts (dividends and orders).
The Germans trust the market's self-correcting mechanisms. The weakness of their
currency, combined with one of the best-controlled inflation rates in the indus-
trial world (four percent), operates ir. favor of a return to a stabilized trade _
balance which, in its turn, will have favorable repercussions on capital movements.
Japan has just bar ely survived one of these spectacular downturns. In 1979, its
- balance of current pa,yments had entered a phase of rapidly grow~'_ng monthly deficits:
_ the yen lost 25 pe rcent of its value in relation to the other currencies. Exports,
stimulated by the drop in the currency, started climbing again. The trade deficit
has been reduced s ince the f irst of the year, capital is again flowing into Tokyo
and the yen has just regained two thirds of the ground previously lost. Today the
Japanese government can afford the luxury of lowering its discount rate and abolish-
ing its exchange c ontrol.
This is a fine example of perfect synchronization between monetary and commercial
trends.
In France, on the contrary, the currency asserts its strength just when the trade
balance is undergo ing a brutal crisis. In September iC showed a deficit of 47 bil-
lion, and it is he ading toward a deficit of 60 billion for the year.
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Half of the gap will be filled by the invisibles balance. A11 the same, the precar-
iouenesa of its surplus must be weighed. It is due to earnings from tourism which
are threatened by the increasingly high cost of living. It is also due to former _
contracta for major projects, renewal of which ie prnving difficult. ~
As for the other half, the trade balance deficit will be made up by influxea of
capital. This is where our monetary policy differe most from the German policy.
W~ borrow heavily abroad, especially through the public sector. At the same time,
we attract the petrodollars to France. (They regortedly have subscribed to the
recent State loans .for approximately 5 billion.)
T~ao factors explain this influx: the policy of high rates, which attracts foreign
capitai but penalizes national investment; and the reputation of the Prime Minis- -
ter. By repeating that he will never devalue the franc, and that he will use every
available means to defend it, Mr Barre has convinced the financial co~unity that
it can benefit from both a good yield and a good exchange guarantee.
/All in all,/ the net capital influxes will represent over 30 billion francs this
year. Their amounts outstaYiding will be over 110 billion and wi'l1 have increased
by 38 percent, after more than 19 percent last year.
Where the Germans resign themseZves to a temporary fall for their currency in order
to reatore their margin of competitiveness, the Prench are defending the franc in
- order to ensure the short-term stability of their foreign trade balance. '
The statistics for the Franco-German exchanges furnish a first test of the relative
effectiveness of these two attitudes.
In 1979 the Franco-German trade balance was sh~rt 11.1 billion francs to our detri-
ment. For the first 6 months of 1980 the deficit has reached 9.6 billion. At
_ this rate it wi11 have doubled in a year.
/German products/ are conquering our market (over 16.7 percent). French products,
on the other hand, are having increasing difficulty in holding their own beyond the
Rhine (8 percent in value). And it is not yet known how great a cut our manufac-
turers have been required to take in their profit margin in order to achieve this
~ modest result.
Mr Jean-Yves Haberer, director of the Treasury, seems scarcely concerned about it.
In an interview granted to "La Vie de France" he says:
"The notion that disparity in inflation rates controls exchange rates is false and
simplistic. It is an idle illusion to believe that international transactions are _
limited merely to exchanges of inerchandise."
I t is not anoCher illusion to imagine that our country can both defend its currency
_ and show one of the highest inflation rates in the industrial world? Our exports
and imports represent some 1100 billion francs: 45 percent of our gross domestic
p roduct. Any price rise that is greater than that of the competition and not cor-
rected by the exchange rate lessens the competitiveness of our sales abroad and
s trengthens that of foreign products on our soil.
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In any event, the very official Center for Long-range Studies of International In-
formation (CEPII) concedes that overvaluation of European currencies (its study
came out before the assaults on the deutsche mark) can check inflation for the
short term: in France, the indexing of public finance and wage income cancels out
this favorable effect.
However, the CEPII experts believe that the same overvaluation has the long-term
effect of importing unemployment from the soft-currency countries to the hard-
currency ones (France's case).
Overvaluation of a currency would be compatible with the rise in wage costs only if

- the country of the currency in question could justify it with a real technological
advance. This is not true for France. Zt wae so for Japan, in 1979. That country,
however, has been careful not to take advaatage of it. Japan ia even suspected of
having used the deterioration of its balance of current payments as a pretext for
pressing for the fall of the yen, for which it is reaping the dividends today.
Last Thursday the Rothschild Bank called some foreign investors together in order
to present the financial ma.rket to them. All the questions from the audience in-
- dicated very great skepticism with regard to the franc.
Any situation, even one that is economically excessive, can be prolonged. Conse-
quently, our international credit will permit us to cover our trade deficit by loans
. for a long time. All the same, it must not be forgotten that the very basis for
the credit reaides in the strength of our industry and that anything which weakens
the latter will finally ruin the former.
COPYRIGHTe1980 "Valeurs Actuelles"
9719
CSO: 3100
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COUNTRX SECTION BELGIUM
VMO'S ERII~SSON DISCUSSES HIS IDEAS, A~CTIONS BY P~
Brussels POURQUOI PAS? in French 30 Oct 80 pp 15-17
[Text] Last Friday at the International Press Center, Albert Eriksson, leader
of the Vlaamse Militanten Orde, was prevented fram taking the floor. What a
beautiful ~ob! This made the 49-year-old cafe owne~ from Anvers a hero and al- ~
_ most a martyr. A Flemish nationalist born to a Swedish father, himself father
of five cl~ildren and grandfather of four. He lives among the relics of Cyril
Verschaeve, of Staf de Clercq who was the head of the V.N.V. (Flemish National
, Union), and of Wim Maes who died in 1968. Hecklers booed Eriksson in the name
of the freedom of the press to prevent him from explaining his viewpoint. This
was a case of odious feel against a helmeted absurdity. Democracy is no excuse
for such actions.
Anyhow, we resist any person who attempts to prevent us from accomplishing our
= jo~ as we undertake it. We have therefore asked the head of the V.M.O. to tell
us what he had in mind, so that with an understanding of the case, our readers
, can judge for themselves. Our conscience is clear on this matter. We have never
concealed our profound aversion and hostility to those ultra Flemish fanatics
and Fascists. Listening to Bert Eriksson's answers, we have recognized him as
a skinny wolf slipped into sheep's clothing. Certain words and certain pro-
nouncements coming from him awaken us to the disturbing nature of his attitudes.
For this reason, it is better to listen to him.
Helmeted
POURQUOI PAS?: You seem to prefer appearing armed and helmeted rather than
~ dressed in a suit for a press conference?
Bert Eriksson: It is difficult for me to attend either a national or an
international press conference with a helmet. This has not been the case
with the journalists from the opposition. I saw tw~ who were helmeted.
P.P.: A private militia like yours infringes upon the 1934 Law.
B.E.: I'd rather raise two counter-questions. First: What is a private
~ militia? Second: When we organize an authorized demonstration while the
so-called anti-Fascist Front counterdemonstrates against us harshly, I ask
~ myself if we are not going back 5 years to ~ouvain's incidents of October 1975.
There, many persons were severely in3ured. This is what I tried to avoid last
week.
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- P.P.: You were seen, however, parading aru~ed and in uniform.
_ B.E.: That is not true. Wearing a uniform i.s not sufficient to indicate that
we are a private militia. After all, who does not wear a uniform nowadays?
We have never used srms. Never! Sticks? Only the ones we use when waving
our placards. (editor's note: A declaration hastily handed to some newsmen
during the failed press conference of 24 October adds the following
remarks: "Judicial and Police services are closely following the members of
the V.M.O. Arms of any sort have never been found during the many repressive
~ and preventive actions taken against the V.M.O. and its members. As far as
the famous articles dealing with the V.M.O. training camps, they were stuffed.
with fake photos and false evidence.")
P,P.: How do you explain the leniency of the Anvers Police towards you?
B.E.: The Anver3 Police are very ob~ective. I cannot add more.
During 1947 or 1948
P.P.: A law suit was brought against you by the Anvers Criminal Court. 4Jhy?
B.E.: For establishing a private militia; enteri.ng without authorization cer-
- tain zones, including the Fouron area; plundering public buildings and for
- some other reasons.
P.P.: Have you heard about a Senatorial ComQnission called on to rule on pri-
vate militia like yours?
B.E.: And presided over by Wyninckx. I know him personally. Mr Jos, I mean
Wyninckx. During 1947 or 1948, Jos Syninckx (A Socialist Flemish Senator-
editor's note) was with me dressed in short breeches, a white shirt, a crew
cut, a black scarf,a lion ros~tte on the left side of his breeches with a
German-style selvage. He looked very official!
P.P.: You have treated immigrant workers as "rats."
B.E.: This has never been a topic of V.M.O. We have never treated imanigrant
workers as "rats." But it is true that during the Anvers' manifestations, the
slogan "foreign rats, go home" were heard. We at the V.M.O. have only one
slogan, one theme: "No voting rights to immigrant workers." But when 500 to
600 members of our movement parade, I cannot control all of them.
P.P.: Do you advocate the usage of force?
' B.E.: I don't exactly understand your question. Force? Not necessarily. We
are trying to reach a dialogue.
P.P.: During the Fouron incident, did you engage in such dialogue?
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. B.E.: Yes, with Happart, without reaching, however, a positive result. We
do not try to impose our views by violence in any way. That is absurd.
Sentimental or Emotional
P.P.: Still you are a Fascist? -
B.E.: Just a minute, a counterquestion: What is a Fascist? For us, Fascism
- for 30 years has been only a notion without content. Not to mention that every
one is calling everyone else a Fascist.
P.P.: You are rather nostalgic?
B.E.: What does it mean to be nostalgic? Being a conservative strictly speak-
' ing, is that nostalgic? I admit that for more than 30 years we have had some
manifestations of a sentimental or emotional Fascism, which happens sometimes ~
to the V.M.O. But we try to lessen its effects. _
~ P.P.: And racism?
B.E.: I'm astonished that I'm asked this question all over. Racism rests =
on an accurate science. There are different races. What is true for cats,
dogs and horses is also true for people. I don't see what do you mean by your
classicial question: Are you a racist?
P.P.: As a Flemish, do you feel that you belong to a superior race?
' B.E.: Absolutely not. We have never felt that we are superior to others.
There are Whites, Blacks, Yellows, no more than that. This is God's will.
P.P.: You say that the V.M.O. has never in 32 years posed as an aggressor? -
But what about the Fouron?
B.E.: Aggression has never been on our side, but on the Francophone side, on
the Walloon side, and more specifically on Mr Happart's s~de (in a small
_ glossary published by ''Alarm," the organ of the V.M.O., 3ose Happart is simply
characterized as a''scoundrel" editor's note). -
With the Ku Klux Klan
P.P.: What are your relations with the extreme rightwi.ng movements elsewhere
than in Flanders?
B.E.: I know the head of REX, but no more than that. He visits my place from -
time to t3~ne to have a beer. With the "Youth Front" we have only one point ~
in co~on: our views on the immigrant workers.
P.P.: Do you have any connections with the French ex-FANE, the German Hoffmann
group, the Ku Klux Klan?
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B.E.: Surely not with the K.K.K. Incidents have been mentioned in Che United
States but nothing has happened there. But the press is exaggerating it. We
have been invited with some members of the V.M.O. by a certain Mr Stone,
president of the National State Right Party, which represents in Georgia ~
White Power against Black Power. We attended a meeting and then we were
expelled from the United States because of Jewish lobby interver_tion. With
the French FANE, we have had occasional contacts and we exchange periodicals
with them. As far as Mr Hoffman is concerned, he came once to my home accom-
panied by 15 persons to have a drink, no more. I have never seen him again.
- We don't have any contacts with terrorists. Terrorism is on the left and not
on the right. They spoke of Munich, Bologna, Paris. What have they proven in
the three cases? I'm astonished that they have not yet attributed to us the _
- Algerian earthquake. -
P,P,: In short what do you want? .
B.E.: An independent Flanders drawn out of the Belgian context and the last
150 years of Belgium's history; having its place among the Nations of Europe
while preserving its unity, culture and liberty. Recently one of my friends
saw and heard a young girl jumping rope on the street and saying: "V.M.O.
_ Gestapo - V.M.O. Gestapo"... All of this is to be blamed on the Leftist Press.
P.P.: Are you an admirer of the Third Reich?
B.E.: The Third Reich scored good points and sometimes less good ones.
p,P.: Do you contemplate being a Flemish Fuhrer? .
B.E.: Not at all. I'm an ordinary waiter. I'm not educated. I'm 49 years
old; how could I?
Thus spoke Bert Eriksson in the name of his 200 uniformed militants and his
400 to 500 un-uniformed militants (the figures are his). We asked Philippe
Moureaux, the new Socialist Minister of 3ustice, what he thought about all of
this. He answered readily saying that he has not changed his mind, that he
was for tY~e strict application of the Law of 1934, that he has been invited
to give a full account of his views before the Senatorial Commission presided .
by Jos Wyninchx, and that he had to study his file beforehand.
A serene man, Mr Moureaux!
COPYRIGHT: 1980 POURQUOI PAS?
9765
CSO: 3100
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COUNTRY SECTION FEDERp,I~ REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
FRG JOURNAL LOOKS IIdTO BONN ARMS EXPORTS
DW221341 Hamburg STERN in German 22 Jan 81 pp 57-60
[Article by Kurt Breme and Mario R. Dederichs: "A Gold Mine"]
- [Text] Even before the Federal Govermnent discussed the question of whether
Saudi Arabia may arm itself with 300 "Leopard 2" battle tanks of German make,
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt solicited support from the grand old man of the SPD.
Tuesday of last week, the government chief explained to the floorleaders,
Herbert Wehner, in urgent terms why Boun must comply with the arm~ wishes of
the desert kingdom: an affront to the most important oil supplier may
~eopardize the raw material supply of the Federal Republic. Besides, the
Americans were urging a German contribution toward the stabilization in the
- Gu1f regic~n which Sc~?midt would prefer to .render with German arms than with
German soldiers. And German industry, which is so dependent on exports, can
also make a mint wiCh other big deals in Saudi Arabia once its government is
more generous about arms exports. .
After this report, Schmidt was "quite unsure" (government spokesman Becker)
whether he would get the backing he hoped to get, because instead of answer-
ing, Wehner screened himself with pipe smoke and remained silent. SPD boss ~
Willy Brandt, as the chairman of the internatiorial North-South commission
! an opponent to the arms race in the Third World, also kept Schmidt in
~ suspense: "Why should we relieve the Federal Gonernment of the decision?"
The chiefs of the Bundestag faction and the party had covered themselves for
good reason, An amazing alliance has formed in the SPD against the arms deal.
Leftwing people's representatives such as Kiel Deputy Norbert Gansel re~ect
the Leopard export as immaoral; rightwingers of the same species such as
Annemarie Renger and Gerhard Jahn are against it out of regard for Israel.
In the event Bonn does go through with arming the 45,000-man army of the
super-rich feudal state, the Federal Government would be turning away from
the political morals that have held sway up to naw. "It is only in negligible
exceptions," said Schmidt in May 1978 at the UN disarmament conference, "that
we allow arm deliveries at all to states outside of NATO. On principle we .
do not allow any arms deliveries to areas of tensions."
In the 1980 election campaign Federal Fore3gn Minister Genscher went even
further. "Surely our country co~its a lot of mistakes, but in the question
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concerning arms exports we are the country showing the greatest reserve."
Jus t recently, at the epiphany convention of the Baden-Wuerttemberg liberals
in Stuttgart in early January, when we had already realized that Bonn does
not want to miss the deal with the Saudis, the FDP boss said angrily: "The
great dangers to world peace include arms exports."
Despite all public protestations of innocence, the Federal Republic has had
a s trong hand in the game of the arms business for quite some time. Since
the social-liberals under Schmidt and Genscher came into government, exports
of war equipment have increased quite a bit. As early as in the mid-seventies
the Federal Republic exported more arms than it i.mported. Compared with the
sixties, Bonn political scientist Eckhart Ehrenberg reckoned, the increase
amounted to 350 percent. In 1978 arws exports for the first time reached a
turnover level of more than DM2 billion. This puts Bonn in fifth place on
the world list of arms exporters, albeit a considerable distance ?~ehind the
top tour: the United States, the Sov3et Union, France and Great Britain.
With the Saudi deal estimated at DM1.2 billion by experts, however, the Federal
Repub lic would catch up with this top group.
The b usiness with the Saudi rulers would suit the crisis-inflicted branch 3ust
fine. Hamburg peace researcher:Peter Lock: "Surplus capacities exist in the
German arms industry." Mea rnahile, there are enough interested parties. "Our
friends in other countries," Hans-Dieter von Bernoth, until ~ust recently a
member of the board of the Munich Leopard manufacturer Krauas-Maffei, re~oices,
"would envy us th e n~ber of inquiries we are getting." Hans-Ulrich Piper of
the Rheinmetall Gun Corporation lauds the chgnces of his arms: "The German
arms technology is in demand throughout the world"--despite eteep prices. _
Thus the "Leopard 2" not only tempts the Saudis (even though it is nearly
twice as expens3ve as tfi e competiti`~e British model "Chieftain.") Libya's
expansion-happy chief of state Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi also shows interest, and
- NATO partner The Netherlands immediately ordered 445 units.
Yet, the biggest market for German tanks, g~s, frigates and missiles is not
among the alliance partners but in the oil states and in the developing countries
of the Third World. Since 1970, the gove~nents of the Middle East and Southeast
Asia have increased their arms purchases fourteenfold. In the case of the
African countries arms i.mports increased sixfold. ~o far as much as one-third
of the German arms deliveries has gone tr~ this region, which is marked by
poverty, dictatorsfiip and political chaos, and another one-third went to the
Middle East.
The shipbuilding and aircraft industries are very heavily involved in the
export business with the TEiird World, whereas deals im~olving armored vehicles
thus far has been restricted to the NATO area. (The most important exception
is th e Thyssen tank "Marder" of which Argentina is building 200 units under
its own type designation TAM under license). The Blohm Voss Corparation, the
Thyssen shipyard in Emden, the Howaldts plant in Kiel and the Bremen Luerssen
shipyard make up for the shipbuilding crisis by building torpedo boats for
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Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania; fr~gates for Argentina
and Nigeria; and submarines for Argentina, Ecuador, Indones3a, Peru and
Venezuela. The Bremen Vulkan shipyard advertises its highly mcdern new
frigate 122 using the slogan "an ideal aea defense system for all nations."
The Messerschmidt-Boelkam-Blohm (MBB) Aviation Corporation exports more than
100 B-105 helicopter gunships to Indonesia, Brunei, Nigeria and the
Philippines, in part as license production. The Dornier Company in
Friedrichshafen is building transport planes for Cameroon, Malawi, Morocco
and soci.alist Ethiopia as well as--jointly with the French Dassault _
Corporation--12 Alpha-~et combat planes for Nigeria. -
"Small size" military equipment, such as G-3 rifles, submachine guns,
small arms, a~unition, fuses and hand grenades ~ent in past years to Iran,
Indonesia, Kenya, Thailand, Colombia, Guyana, the Philippines and Singapore.
Demand is great because wars use up more and more materials: U.S. Army
statistics experts figured out that in World War II 1,100 kilograms of
au~unition were needed to kill one soldier, in the Vietnam war 17,800
kilograms were needed.
The export of German arms is basically permitted only with the approval of the
Federal Government. But since a n~ber of firms cooperate with foreign
_ partners, planes, missiles and tanks developed and built by German firms are
being acquired by questionable customers. The sale in such cases goes via a
co~on branch firm. Becaus e such firms are located abroad, it is possible
to legally dodge the rigid German arms export stipulations for years.
- The international firm Euromissile (partners: MBB and the French firm
Aerospitale) has order~ for its antitank missile "hot" from warring enem3es
Iran and Iran (360 each) as well as further orders for "hot" and the portable
Milan missile; Syria ordered 1,000 of each, Brazil 4,000 of each and the
; People's Repub lic of China 15,000 of each. France is officially the
supplying country--also with regard to the sale of Alpha ~ets to Morocco,
- Togo and the Ivory Coast. Leopard-1 tank.s appeared in Libya, coming,
according to intelligence service reports, from the Italian firm Oto Melara,
which has a Krauss-Ma.ffei license to build 600.
Many important firms with good names in the Federal German economy are
involved in the arms business: the Nuernberg Diehl combine with aircraft -
electronics and mortar shells, the Renk gear factory with ship gears, the
- firm Dynamit Nobel with the "Lanze" bazooka, the firm AEG with radar
installations for speedboats and ~ubmarines and the Porsche firm with the
development of bridge-carrying tanks. The Berlin a~s firm Diag supplied
complete a~unition plants. The G-3 rifle by Hecker and Koch is being
produced in six developing counCries and used in 39 countries, most recently
' in the Uganda war. Military vehicles are being supplied to everybody by _
Magirus-Deutz, Daimler Benz and Volkswagen.
Germany's war materiel export blossoms remarkably well despite Che restric-
tions by the war arms control and foreign trade bills. That is not hindered
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, by Bonn's slogan: "No arms to tensicn areas." It was formulated in 1965
by the CDU-FDP goverriment of Ludwig Erhard and confirmed in 1971 and 1978
by the SPD-FDP governments under Brandt and Schmidt. There was always
"considerable leeway" with regard to its interpretation according to arms
expert Eckhart Ehrenberg. The lobbyists' newsletter "Wehrdienst" said it
more plainly: "Listening with the help of bugs and arms exports have one �
thing in common: the Federal Government tolerates both things secretly, -
but it admits it only when concrete actions can no longer be denied."
Some F-86 fighter planes from the FRG decommissioned in 1971 were used in
the war between india and Pakistan. Portugal used Fiat G-91-R planes
from the Federal Republic in its colonial wars in Guinea-Bissau and
Mo zambique.
The term "tension areas" turned out to be extendable. When the quarrel arose
recently about submarines for Argentina and Chile, where the Vatican is
currently mediating in a border conflict, Martin Gruener, state secretary of
the MinisCry of Economics, stated: "It is not known to the Federal Government
that tensions exist between Argentina and Chile."
In the future the "tension area" term will make even less trouble for the
arms industry. The spokesman for the firm Rheinmetall, Hans-Ulrich Piper,
said that one needs to "adapt to international facts." The arms lobby
tries to make a slackening of export stipulations=more tasty for the
Federal Govertmnent with three arguments:
Safeguarding 260,000 jobs in this field at times when the Bundeswehr demands
do not suffice to fill capacities;
More foreign trade income, helping to close the gap in the German foreign
trasie balance;
Cheaper development and production of our own arms in greater serial produc-
tion th anks to foreign orders. .
The Federation Association of the German Aviation and Outer Space Industries
complained that due to export restrictions "the turnover of several billions
of marks was lost." Although the order situation is satisfactory everywhere--
with the exception of shipyards--the lobbyists point out to the politicians
how good medium-term safeguarding would be particularly for the workers: the
- monthly output of 30 tanks safeguards 10,000 jobs.
Enterprises like to use their workers councils against too smart critics of
arms exports. Kurt Fischer, a member of the Rheinstal Workers Council,
considers it his task "to help preserve jobs." In doing this, the workers
representatives sometimes contradict the politica.l line of the trade unions.
Eugen Loderer, the chief of the metal workers union where most aYmament
workers are organized, said: "I can only ask the Federal Republic to stick
with a very narrow definiCion of tension areas."
That is hard for the Bonn rulers. Foreign Minister Genscher asks "whether
Cension areas is still a correct term. Genscher as well as Hans-Juergen
Wischnewski, the friend of the Arabs, does not want tp use that restricCive
term in connection with Saudi Arabia, which is intere~ted in the Leopard tank.
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Cnancellor Schmidt wants to extend the political discussion about an individual
case into a basic discussion. He wants to know "how we ought to represent
ourselves in the world in the future and with what means." Whether arms
will be supplied to critical zones or not is to be decided in the future on ~
the basis of "national interests." A cabinet member explained what this mea~lt:
_ "The 1965 stipulations which were confirmed in 1971 served national interests
at that time. Today national interests call for another definition."
Raw material supplies and German zconomic strength certainly play a key role
in the new formulation of Bonn's arms export policy. The situation is not the
very best: the FRG foreign trade balance, once considered indestructible, is
now shawing DM30 Sillion deficit--consequence of the 500 percent oil price
increase. The German economy is forced to transfer more money particularly ~
to Saudi Arabia, more than it can gain from there through the sale of German
products.
The goverrnnent hopes that the tank deal will produce a warm foreign currency
[word indistinct] on the negative trade balance. In addition, there is the
chance of additional orders in the civilian sector ru~ing into the millions.
The Swabian arms factury Heckler and Koch demonstrates how that works. Having
supplied together with the French some machines for the production of pistols
and rifles, the desert rulers regularly ordered machine tools from the firm's
negotiating today with it on the construction of a textile plant.
But the things that work smoothly economically may be dubious politically.
Maria Schlei, the chairman of the SPD's foreign policy working circle, believes
tha t German credibility is in da nger. SPD deputy Norbert Gansel fears that
the Federal Government could get into a foreign political bind: "Can we re-
fuse to sell tanks to our oil supplier Libya, if we give them to our oil
supplier Saudi Arabia?"
The new trend would become critical for FDP chief Genscher if new production
capacities were created through the growing arms business. These capacities
would have to be filled later on--with more and more foreign orders. The
foreign minister told STIItN: "If it were a matter of safeguarding access
to new markets, foreign policy would become a servant of the arms industry.
In no case may that be allowed to happen."
COPYRIGHT: 1981 Gruner + Jahr AG & Co.
CSO: 3103
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COUNTRY SECTION FRANCE
ANALYSIS OF GISCARD-BARRE TENSION: POLICIES, AMBITIONS
Paris LE NOWEL OBSERVATEUR in French 2~ Nov 80 pp 36-38
~ [Article by Georges Mamy: The French Comedy]
[Text] After a meeting of the cabinet on the 19th of November, the president of
the republic, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, and hie prime minister, Raymond Barre,
- struck a studied "pose." The two men shook hands with enthusiasm for a long time
' while the photographers and cameramen moved themselves into position.
Cou1d we have failed to notice that this skit had no other aim than to put an end
to the rumors that serious dissensions have risen between Giscard and Barre? No,
of course not. And if it only concerned ill-feelings between two people, then we
~ would have reacted like all Frenchmen: by not caring at all, and without worrying
' ourselves much with knowing if the rumors were founded ar not.
But beyond this anecdote and the ridiculous little comedy performed on the court
; of the Elysee, it is above all the state of the French nation and of our future:
which is of concern; in fact, real differences separgte the Head of State and his
Prime Minister, differences whose gravity is of concern to each citizen. It is
thus necessary upon examination to open this strange file, and to ask oneself the
question of why the two parties have agreed, for the time being, to conceal these
. dissensions behind a forced smile.
And first, the case seen from the side of Matignon. Raymond Barre reckone that
for several months there has been no true political desire to accompany, support,
and propagate his economic "gamble." In private discussions with the Head of
SCate, he has stated many times that there was an incompatibility between the myth
_ of "lessening tensions" and the necessity of mobilizing the French in face of the
crisis. The Prime Minister feels that the Elysee is conducting itself as if it
wanted to indulge the worst tendencies of the French. Among these tendencies, -
two are alarming in his eyes. The first is thgt there is no French class which
is resigning itself to lowering its standard of living. The second ~s that all
the French want more or less to be "helped." The Elysee is doing noth~ng to
dispel these t~ro "illusions," and to Barre, this is tragic.
Nobody, then, wants to change his standard "of living: not the wealthy, who do
not want Co take risks; nor the disadvantaged, who refuse to worse~ their condi-
tion. Employers hesitate to invest. The heads of industry do not know how to be
competitive in foreign markets. The educators are not taking the initiative of
;
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a"Japanese-style" selection. Married women do not realize that "it will be diffi-
cult for them Eo find jobs for the next four or five years." The workers are not
resigning themselves to changing their region or occupation. Last of all, the
Prime Minister feels that the departure of immigrants is not going fast enough.
On the whole, Raymond Barre refuses the concesaions that one habitually makes
during election time. As a result, everything is frozen, immobilized, and
paralyzed because any reform that does not follow the preconceptions attributed
to the Giscardien voters is not put into practice.
In short, the Prime Minister, who believes himself to be the eventual heir to
Poincare and Mendes-France, does not intend to take the responsibility of a
failure which would not be his own.
On the side of the Elysee, the position is evidently not any less fierce. According
to Giscard, the "foremost French economist" ie having an attack of inegalomania.
He believes that he is the embodiment of truth, reason, aad intransigence, but he
has no political sensibili~y. He does not know that an economic gamble is also
won by integrating psychological factors. He does not know where the FYench stand.
Giscard, the elected monarch, believes himself to have a"good feel of his people"
through reports he receives from the French police and his administratore. Now
the French, he is told, are the advocates of stability, more conservative than
ever, and fearful of adventure and daring. More than ever they need security and
reasaurance.
Barre, according to the same people, is looking for excuses because a certain
number of public declarations that he made in the past are being conCradictad in
reality. He had foreseen neither the reduction-'.in the sfandard of living and
buying power nor the aggravation of unemployment in their present proportions.
The idea of making the Elysee responsible is one of unbearable "arrogance." Does
not the Prime Minifiter tolerate the "directives" given to him by Giscard? It is
true that the point is to achieve through the prescribed measures a serious in-
flection (sic) of an economic policy that, in iCs application, knows deplorable
ups and downs. It is "grotesque" that Barre would be tempted to use his recent
experience in Lyon as an inspiration that he would like to apply to the French
government. ~
Finally, the Prime Minister is sometimes quite simply accused of advancing his
personal future at the expense of the next election, that is, of Giscard's
political destiny. This was the situation before the'last council of ministers.
A Perfect Logic
In the society that one could call "governmental" (the ministers, the members of
their staffs, the high-level administration, etc.), the score has been kept as
severely for one as for the other.
As for the President of the Republic? T'hese privileged spectators are the first
to realize that he continues to make himself ridiculous by the fussy concern with
which he personally rules the rites of a hyper-monarchial protocol: no one facing .
him during meals (it continues); his son is served bef9re his guests and his
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omni-present family... As his latest fad he is rounding up all the paintings repre-
senting the d'Estaing ancestors, the true ones, those to whom he is linked only
by a name purchased by his father! This may cause one to smile, but it is also
irritating. On the other hand, this little circle conaiders the diamond affair -
as negligible for the time being and finds rather amusing the reputation given to
Giscard of very much devoting himself to the ladies and his hunting during his
travels. One matter, however, is hard to take: Giscard's decision to send Roger
Delpey to prison. Was not this man arrested only to confiscate a few embarrasing
documents? Some "honest" ministers are worrying. No satisfactory explanation has
been given to them. Maybe one day someone will riak asking the question.
But one is not any more lenient with Barre. Some people allege that he has moments
of complete bewilderment in the certitude and self-conceit of his being the only
one to understand the crisis, not only in France but in the world. He no longer
tolerates any type of argument or critical observation. And, according to the
same people, Raymond Barre may thoroughly expect a national destiny for himself
because France will need to be "saved." -
It would be stupid, nevertheless, to imagine that the differences between the two
"heads" of power can only be explained by personal.feelings. The foundation is
also in question. It is clear enough, in fact, that Raymond Barre bases himself
on the perfect logic of a system that he has chosen once and for all: a"carica-
ture of quintessential liberalism," says an expert. He claims that in order to
"break" the insupportable increase in French prices other than oil, it would be
necessary then to suppress the de facto indexation of wages and thus reduce pur-
chasing power, inasmuch as he excludes planning and interventionism. Barre
remains within his logic. Just as he does in wishing that women stay at home and
that the immigrants return to their native counCries.
But Giscard, because he is also thinking of the election, or because he is not of
the same character as his Prime Minister, does not have the courage of his con-
victions. This lack of a common standard increases the drawbacks and multiplies
the failures.
Are the conditions fulfilled for a divorce between the two individuals, the two
policies, and the two ambitions? It is this question which has fed rumors over
past weeks.
_ We forgot too quj.ckly that in politics there are special arrangements and uncommon
imperatives. Henri Queuille, president of the Council of the 4th Republic, stated
in public one day and not without ingenuity, that "we are condemned to govern
together." Barre and Giscard are themselves condemned in a certain manner to
remain "coupled," at least until next May lOth. Maybe beyond that provided that
no one drops dead or there is no anger between one or the other.
The Arm of Dissuasion
It is simple enough: Raymond Barre has a"hold on" Giscard by the monetary situa-
tion that he has created. One of the best experts in the exchange markets, the
principal exchange broker for the Morgan Bank, stated very recently in Paris: "if
Barre left, the Franc would immediately decline to the lowest level of the (S.M.E.)
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European Monetary System." This goes a long way in explaining the artificiality
of a staggering monetary sys tem associated with an inflation that nothing can
stop and to an ever growing deficit of our international trade. If such a decline
were Co come about, it woYil d undoubtedly be possible to check the decline end
support the Franc so that it does not leave the S.M.E.: the Bank of France would
buy back francs with the dollars and the marks that it holds in reserve. But _
psychologically, the blow would have been struck, and the remaining "confidence"
woul.d be impaired, and--who knows--the May election would perhaps be lost.
Here it is then, Bar~~e's arm of dissuasion, the one which allows him some freedom
to display a relative fndependence, at least in hushed conversations.
But the Prime Minister canno t, nevertheless, push his irreverence too far. He can
ridicule an "oral reformer" as such without naming him, and defend his policy by
stating that it is useful to Giscard because "if France takes a fall it is above
all Giscard who will help it to its feet, not I," or still mention the President's
letter which contains the 1 3 November "29 priority actions: Giscard likes to
write but this will not upset the world...in any case this will create afl overflow
of paperwork." But here Barre has probably reached his limit: because he sees
himself as the future successor to the Elysee, and since he believes that Giscard ~
himself would eventually accept him in that role (perhaps as a means to annoy
Chirac), he cannot, all the same, afford to make an enemy of this eventual and
powerful vote-getrer, nor Giscard's family.
Thus, the inevitab le alliances reunite and the collusions of those involved perpetu-
ate themselves.
COPYRIGHT: 1980 "le Nouvel Observateur"
9745
CSO: 3100
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COUNTRY SECTION FRANCE
PCF LAUNCHES ANTI-IMMIGRATION CAMPAIGN
Paris L'EXPRESS in French 15 Nov p 105
� [Article by Francine Rivaud "P.C.: Too Many Imanigrants"J -
[Text] After the cost of living, low salaries and unemployment, the c~anmunist
party now has a new campaign theaie, this one being less traditional: the fight
; against the massive presence of i~3grants in the working class suburbs. A theme,
i which up to now, appeared only period3cally and unobtrusively in the cammunis.t _
; party propaganda. Today, the anti-~mm~igrant campaign, from Marseilles to the
~ Parisian suburbs, is being carried out on a large scale.
At the end of October, the Val-de-Marne communist weekly THE WORKER proclaimed:
"We are saying it honestly, it is too much." Too much? 28 percent of immigrants
in Saint-Denis, 27 percent in Aubervilliers, 23 percent in Nanterre. HoweYer;-less
than 10 percent in Boulogne-Billancourt, Neuilly-sur-Seine or Charenton, whose
mayors belong to the majority. Between 1975 and 1980 the number of immigrants has
increased 40 percent in Garges-les-Gonesse, with the total population increasing
only percent. In ivey-sur-Seine, the number has tripled in less than 20 years.
Where is the "tolerance level"? Most often, the sociologists set it at 10 percent:
no more than one immigrant per 10 inhabitants. Up to the present, the co~unists
have never recognized this level. Now, theq seem to be setting it "de facto" at
20 percent.
Certain districts have became enclaves. The 1200 inhabitants of the autonomous
port in Gennevilliers, located between expressway and industrial zone, are all
Mograbins. 80 percent of the 3000 dwellings of Rose des Vents in Aulnay-sous-Bois,
are inhabited by Arabs, Blacks or Asians. :'Within 2 years, if noth3ng is done, there
will be only immigrants in this town", says regretfully Pierre Thomas, town mayor.
From the Val-de-Marne to the Seine-Saint-Denis, the elected communists, exasperated
with this imbalance, have decided to no longer welcome new immigrants into the
territory of their coffiunes. "We have given enough, it is someone else's turn now":
all are saying this, hoping that the municipalities belonging to the ma~ority will
finally sha~e in the immigration responsibilities.
They interfere and are expensive, these "colored" men and women, poor, unemployed
or unqualified workers. They pay very few taxes, but are the greatest consumers
of aid, allocations and subsidies. When a school has a good number of little ii~i-
grants in it, the French people often withdraw their oj,m children, fearing, as one
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mother put. "that they might learn Arabic"... At Che Victor Hu~o comprehensive
achool in Aulnay-sous-Bois, over 60 percent of the students are either from Africa
or Asia. Inevitable consequence: each student, rahether French or not, suffers an
educational handicap. "In Gennevilliers, 57 percent of the children are beh3nd 1
or more years," explains Mayor Lucien Lanternier.
The burden weighs heavy on the community budget, "It is not right for several commun- -
ities to car~cy alone the social burden of ium~igration," says Jacques Laloe, mayor
of Iveysur-Seine. Over half of the soc3al aid from municipal budgets is alloted
to immigrant families. "The poor must pay for the poor," notes Pierre Thomas. On
the other hand, Neuilly-sur-Seine, which numbers some of the heaviest taxpayers in
France, has very few immigrants. The inhabitants of th~ co~unist municipalities
can hardly support an additional effort without giving in to xenophobia. Racism,
always hidden, is about to reappear. "Everything is for them," say those who think
_ only of deserting their neighborhood.
The exasperation of the c~mmunist mayors, if one is to believe them, is fueled by
~ the belief that they are victims of a dual politi~al maneuver: on the one hand,
"someone" wants to draw their workers out of the communes and thus away from the
pref erred electoral vote of the Communist Party; on the other hand, "sameone" wants
to degrade the social climate by accrediting the idea that red suburb equals hell. _
However, it is not by mere coincidence that this.exasperation should explode today,
at the beginning of a presidential campaign. Giving it free rein, the communist.. .
mayors also know that they are recuperating one of the causes of dissatisfaction of
- the ponular vote, hit by unemployment and for whom the "foreigner" is a convenient
scapegoat. At the time of the election, the satisfaction of the French proletariat
overrides the union of the "proletariats of all countries."
The Commiunist Party mayors are not the only ones to listen carefully to their constit-
uents. "When I happen to have welfare housing at my disposal, it is natural of
course that I should offer it to those in my administration, explains Achille
Peretti, mayor of Neuilly. "Besides, he adds, I also have my own immigrants. They
are both modest employees and diplomats. 2"here are 24 ambassadors residing in
Neuilly."
COPYR~GHT: 1980 S.A. Groupe Express
959 2
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COUNTRY SECTION .FRANCE
ANALYSIS OF PCF PLAN: LIKE 1972 BUT WITH IMPORTANT CHANGES
Paris LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR in French 1-7 Dec 80 p 3 9.
[Article by Roget Priouret: "Where President Marchais Would Lead Us"]
[Text] Roget Priouret analyses the 131 plans of the communist
candidate's platform at the 1981 April elec tions. fle detects in
it more than a mere 'catalogue'.
An isolated Franca, behind custom barriers to insure a strong economic growth~ at
high costs (which disposes of the required manpower but, alas, not of the matching
energy or raw materials resources); an actual inhib i tion of the ability to maintain
a continuous industrial activity of any importance under private controls; a break
with the upper echelons of the middle classes, which until now had been coddled
and even flattered: such are the outlooks offered-- implicity--by the 131 planks
of Georges Machais~ electoral platform. Its visib le logics are those of the
"Leftist Join Program" of 1972: on one hand, a return to a rapid economic expan-
sion through a massive distribution of purchasing power, even more generous than
8 years ago; on the other hand, a push toward social ism tltrough nationalizations,
whose list has increased by half. _
But there are important alterations. Priority is g iven--rightfully--to ~obs and
working conditions. The self-management concept, wh ich the PCF adopted for 2 or 3
years now, occupies an important position [in the p latform] but this masks a CGT
[General Confederation of Labor] intention to seize the enterprises controls.
Actions against the wealthy classes are more indica t ive of a desire to punish them -
rather than a need to increase the state budget collections to cover the munif icent
outlays made to other positions. -
Damn the Reprisals
By reason of the munificences, Georges Marchais' p latform goes beyond the leftist -
revendications. True, ft calls for an immediate r ise of SMIC [Interoccupational
Minimum Growth Wage] to Fr 3,300, but also for an increase of the other low wages;
it provides for a 35-hour workweek, but reduces it to 30-hour for the mother of a
- child under 2 years of age; it establishes a retirement age of 60 for men and 55 for
women, but also allows r~tirement for anyone younger who as least contributed for
37.5 years to Soci~l Security; it provides for build ing,half-a-million HLM [Low-cost '
Housing Program] units annually, including some to be built in the center of cities, .
but it also includes a general reduction of HLM ren t s. .This is an endless list. It
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_ includes free comprehensive medical care and an annuPl medical check-up. It con-
cludes on these two demands:/"a second SNCF [French National Railroads] ticket for
legal holidays with pay; two holiday gas vouchers."/ [in italics] As to the
- budgetary increases which would result from such a platform, Georges Marchais
remains silent. He even adds to it the creation of 140,000 public jobs. HQ has
taken an easy stand: the presidential candidate and the incumbent French president
have only to offer guidelines; to implement then is within the government's
province .
But if these measures are applied, for nationalized and private enterprises alike,
the production costs will shoot up concurrently with the labor costs (salaries and
social insurance contributions) whose increases will be at least 25 percent.
Price controls, which will be reinstated, will only be able to take this into con-
sider.ation. Thus, foreign made products will become cheaper in France, and French
products more expensive abroad. The only means to keep the situation under con-
trol will reside in custom duties imposed on imports and financial aids provided
for exports. Whence a first consequence: France will be economically isolated,
breaking away from the Common Market and from all Western nations. Is it conceiv-
able, for an instant, that there will not be any reprisals? and. that the other
countries will let us dump our products on them in order to pay for our oil imports?
A second conclusion can be added. It is Georges Marchais' intention, rightfully,
to see France take first place in machine production,~over Germany, and in data pro-
cessing, electronics and scientif ic instruments fabrication, over the United States
B~it our technological gap--which cannot be blamed on the co~unists--will not be
corrected in a France snugly retired within itself, but only a country open to the
world, which will at the same time accept that foreign firms provide us wiCh their
technologies and that our firms get fertilized in foreign countries.
The impossibility to keep alive in the long range a private industrial enterprise
is clearly the object of plank 17: /"Tax on firms' profits shall be increased"/
[in italics] (when currently these are taxed at 50 percent); /"A highly productive
tax on firms' capital shall be introduced"/ [italics] (when this capital is essen-
tially formed by installations, i.e. the production system, and when actually it is
private wealth which should be hit--as it is done anyway by plank 33). The measures
affecting jobs are also severe. The strong growtr? would allow the creation of
- 260,000 new jobs in industry each year, states the first plank. But the following
planks do in fact prohibit, in the middle of a full scale technological mutation,
use of any coercion to force anyone to change employment against his/her will.
In reality, the PCF does not expect to conquer the middle classes anymore. If
seizure of income exceeding FR 40,000 per month does not affect them, they are in
turn hit by the reduction in salary spread, to be cut back to a ratio of one to
four, by the reform of distribution channels, by the trade margins controls, by the
elimination of the tax advantages granted to bonds. It may be the only new item
which has appeared in recent times in the PCF conceptions. Everything else does
only conf irm the limited importance that it attaches to French relations with the
Western nations. Moreover, Georges Marchais does not discuss them.
COPYRIGI~C: ~ 1980 "le Nouvel Observateur'c
9627
CSO: 3100
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COUNTRX SECT~ON k'RANCE
MLRAGE 2000 TEST CONDITIONS, RESULTS
Paris AIR & COSMOS in French 13 Dec 80 p 17
[Text] Prototype No O1 of the Mirage 2000 began a new group of tests at the end
of November, at Istres, with Guy Mitaux-Maurouard, the test pilot for the Marcel
Dassault-Breguet Aviation aircraft, at the controls; this series of tests will
' probably last 3 months and the main purpose is to study the performance of the air-
craft at great and very great angles of attack. The first tests already made it
i poasible to register attack angles of 40� with the aircraft at that time being on
a qua.si-ballistic flight path (speed indicated about 35 kn; altitude 40,000 ft) in
~ the course af which the controls provided good effectiveness, thus permitting the
j pilot to retain complete control of his aircraft.
I These tests are to be continued all the way to zero indicated speed, with complete
' control over the aircraft, without any restriction on the controls as such. T[ie
~ results obtained and those anticipated evidence the fact that, because of its CDVE
(electrical flight controls), the "2000" offers remarkable safety since at the very
; great angles of attack explored, the effectiveness of the controls eliminate any
, risk of going ~nto a spin. The ~ircraft's aerodynamic shape (delta wing), combined _
with its high thrust-to-weight ratio and the possibilities offered by the CDVE pre-
vents any abrupt rolloff and permits the aircraft and its pilot to assume attitudes
(involving going all the way to 70� angle of attack, with the stick way back) that
are unaccessxble to any other type of aircraft.
, The most remarkable point in these tests resides in the fact that, due to the re-
finement of the CDVE adjustments and their optimization, it is possible to achieve
' a new level of very high maneuverability (turn rate, etc.) while permitting the
pilot to maintain control of his aircraft, without forcing any restrictions in
controls upon him while the computers permanently determine what can be done; by
' way of example, the so-called "bell" maneuver, forbidden on recent modern aircraft,
could be performed by it.
_ These in-flight tests above all were designed to achieve optimum adjustments, most
of the work hav:ing been done at the St-Cloud establis~ment; with the help of the
_"general flight control test bench" at that establisbment and knowledge acquired by
special.ists (aerodynamic coefficients), it is possible with good precision to simu-
late the performance of the aircraft; tbis in particular explains the speed with
which the Mirage 2000 aircraft can e~cplore their flig~it environment.
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At the end of each soxtie, a consi.de~able e~~oz't i.s devoted to the reconsti.tuti.on �
of the precise flying condi.ti.ons at St�-Cloud wYiexe the necessary volwn~.nous ~.n-
formation processing equipment is available along wi.ti~ personnel capable of usi.ng
the equipment and data. This program involves quantitative tests whose final
results will enable operational pilots to achieve flight performances "at the very
limits," without risk of loss of conCrol and going into a apin.
On 9 December, Mirage 2000 No O1 totaled 231 sorties. Its first flight as we recall
goes back to 10 March 1978. Since then, four other prototypes of this combat air-
craft have flown; they are the Mirage 2d00 single-seat No 02 (first f light on 18
September 1978), the Mirage 200Q No 03 (f irst flight on 26 April 1979), and Mirage
2000 No 04 (first f light on 12 May 1980) as well as the two-seat Mirage 2000 B-O1
- (f irst flight on 11 October 1980). These five aircraft total about 700 sorties.
COPYRIGHT: A. & C., 1980
5058
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COUNTRY SECTION FRANC~
BRIEFS �
POLICE DIRECTOR LEAVES--Jean Confida, director o~ the "police generale" at the
Prefecture of Police, will step down at the end of January [1981]. His successor,
Maurice Lacoste, has spent a large part of his career in [the Ministry ofJ For-
- eign Affairs. ~Text] [Paris LA LETT~E DE L'EXPANSION in French 5 Jan 81 p 6]
DEFENSE MINISTRY OFFICE HEADS--~iarc Buchet, special admini.strator, has been ap-
pointed directior of the Civilian and Military Office imder Minister of Defense
Robert Galley. Buchet held a similar position under both Defense Ministers
Bourges and Le Theule. Andre Canals, PTT administrator, fias been appointed head
of the Civilian Office under Galley, and Brigadier General Achille Lerche of
the air force (also a former official imder Bourges and Le Theule) has been ap-
pointed to be head of the Military Office. Technical advisors are Rene Chabod,
armed forces controller; Genevieve Apron (Press); Noel Forgeard, chief engineer
for mining (Industrial Affairs); Jean Picq, chief clerk and advisor for the Ac-
counting Office; and Andre Ride, magistrate. Delegation leaders are Gaston
Heurleq, inspector-general of administration in the Ministry of the Interior,
and Michel de Rosen, finance inspector. [Text] [Paris AIR & COSMOS in French
lOJan81p13]
NEW SDECE DIRECTOR--Philippe Mestre will be made director of the SDECE after the
departure of Alexandre de Marenches. The papers are being signed. [Mestre] will
assume his post in the next few weeks. [Excerpts] [Paris VALEURS ACTUELLES in
French 5 Jan 81 p 12]
QATAR GOOD EXAMPLE--Fourteen Mirage F1 aircraft for Qatar. This country is once
again turning to France to purcfiase weapons since this order has just been added
to orders for the Alpha Jet, placed at ti~e beginning of the year, involving mis-
sile-firing patrol craft and Exocet missiles mounted on coastal batteries. The
remarkable thing in these transactions is that the French manufacturers are now
_ getting a foothold in a region which had been dependent on Great Britain and the
United States. This is opening prospects for the improvement of France's balance
of trade which shows a deficit and that also makes for closer links with Qatar, a
country which has already agreed to increase petroleum shipments to France by 10
percent to make up for the Iranian shortages. [Text] [Paris AIR & COSMOS in
Franch 13 Dec 80 p 8] 5058
HELICOPTER PROGRAM THREATENED--As a result of cutbacks in the originally planned
_ budget package, the intergovernmental committee on the French-German AT helicopter
(HAC/PAH 2) has asked manufacturers to work out a less ambitious solution. A1-
~ though very important for both countries, the future of this program is~thus not
formally guaranteed; we recall that, on the French side, it would always be pos-
, sible to develop a solution on the basis of the "Dauphin," already used in various
tests involving the elements of a weapons system based on domestic components.
[TextJ [Paris AIR & COSMOS in French 13 Dec 80 p 16] $058
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COUNTRY SECTTON ITALY
~
i
~
~
~
,
~
~ BUSINESSMAN MARIO RENDO TO EXPAND ACTIVITIES IN SICILY
I Milan PANORAMA in Italian 1 Dec 80 pp 228-233
[Article by Nicola Pressburger]
~
~ [Text] Mario Rendo, Sicily's leading entrepreneur, made a
fortune on government contracts. Now he plan~s to
; branch out, and he has three projecta in mind: soy
; beans (already under way), the tourist tsade, and
I methane gas.
~
There wi11 be big holiday celebrationa this year when Catania entre-
! preneur Mario Rendo's family comes home for Chriatmas. At the end of
; 1980, $8-year-old Rendo's 2~ companies, put together, will top the
211-billion-lire mark in total volume of business. With that milestone
behind them, Rendo and his partnera (aix sons, a brother, two nephewe,
, a^a ;ongtirse frier.;i umuerco Ca:..~.a~a), wiil od running the big~e,.~t
; privately owned industrial empire in Sicily, and perhaps in the entire
Italian Southland.
Rendo's conglomerate is a group of companiea which by this time are
, producing just about everything. His seven agribusineaaes sell oran-
ges, pork, and beef to the tune of 8 billion lire a year, not to men-
tion freeze-dried vegetables in Austria and Germany. His construc-
tion companies build bridges, roads, and complete residential neigh-
borhoods with their own community services a.nd shelters (they built
; one in Paterno). His sheet-and-tube and plant installation companiea
; can handle ~verything from simple steel tubing to huge power plants.
~ Rendo's whole empirc has been built on the aoundest and richest founda-
! tiori Italy can offer: government contracts. About 90 percent of the
Catanian entrepreneur's business comes from bridge and road construc-
' tion, port and river inst allations, and buildings for national or local
i government needs. "We don~t let anything get away, not even the lit-
j tlest jobs," says the manager of one Rendo company. The lion~s share
; goes to builc~.i.ng construction, which by itself accounta for half the
i total volume of business. Even Rendo's farm holdings, though, have
! found the government a good customer: Agrofil, a cooperative owned by
~ members of the Rendo f amily, provides complete field rations, includ-
ing field kitchena, to the Italian army every year; that bring's in
better than 2 billion lire. ~
~
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It all got off to a slow start with a small construction buainess in-
herited from Rendo's father in the F`ifties. Then, in 1969, came the ~
quantwn leap. In the aftermath of the Belice earthquake, Rendo stepped
forward with a bid to provide housing for several thousand of the home-
less f amilies. His happening to own a pre-f ab construction company,
S~.cilprofilati, established in 1964, proved no less than providential.
"In 9 months we put up 1, 800 two-family houses, p recalls Antonio Moretta,
who at the time was head of Sicilprofilata and now heads the biggest
of Rendo's corporations, IMPA Metalworking, with 2$ billion lire worth
of business per year and a backlog of firm orders for the next 2 years.
The company made no less than 10 billion (1g69) lire out of that con-
tract, which would be the equivalent of around 40 billion today.
Since that time, Rendo and his family partners have done nothing but
aet up or buy new companies at the rate of two or three a year, and,
in the process, bagging more and more contracts and r.ew sources of
f inancing.
One master-stroke, for instance, was his acquisition of the Costantina
citrus company, the biggest in Sicily, close to Catania. Rendo bought
it in 1972 for 2 billion Iire which was practically nothing as it
turned out, since the Sicilian Regional government granted exactly that
sum to subsidize improvements and new stock for the operation. '~The
job actually cost more than $ billion lire, M says Antonio Schilliro,
who now rwns Costantina. "We installed 300 kilometers of underground
irrigation piping.:' Today, though, the orange groves are worth more
than 40 billion lire, and once the new orange-trees begin b~aring, it
wi11 bring in a sure profit of at least 3 billion per year, plus ano-
ther biilion lire worth of business from the nursery, where 100,000
baby orange trees are thriving in a greenhouse on Costantina property.
No less astute was the deal he made with Impa, established 4 years ago.
Renda bought the land for 600 lire per aquare meter in swampy area al-
ready held by the Region, at a ti.me when there was not even a hectare
of industrial land to be had in Catania. Reclaiming the land and
building the plants cost a total of 20 billion lire. This time, too,
Rendo could count on grant financing from the Southland Fund (Cassa
del Mezzogiorno) to the tune of 1.8 billion lire, and on low-interest
loans for another 10 billion. The rest he inveated out of pocket as
the new orders began coming in.
Today Rendo owns plants that can handle any of the 40 products ca~lled
for in ma~or construction contracting. Nor is that all. According to
conglomerate managers, the varioua Rendo companies now handle less than
15 percent of major construction cnntracts in Sicily. Rendo has also
loosened his ties with the Cassa ~ier il Mezzogiorno ever since 2 yeara
ago, when Liberal Regional Councilman Henedetto Cottone joined forcea
with the PCI councilman to block award of the contract for a big irri-
g'ation installation to Rendo in non-competitive private negotistions.
Now Rendo ia happier working with 3IP (telephone switching atations),
with the state~owned ra3lroads (he recently bagged a contract for 300
freight car~, worth 1$ billion lire), with the Post Office (2� build-
in~~ a11 over Italy for a total of more than 6 billion lire), and es-
pecially with ENEL (the national electric powe~ agency), for whx~.:h he
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moat important service the foundation has done for Rendo is a campaign
calling for widespread planting of soybeans in southern Italy, spending
hundreds of millions of lire on studies commissioned from foreign com-
panies (Battelle of Geneva) and Italian university consultants.
There was widespread resistance to this initiative, but it lasted only
2 years: last September, at the latest conference put on by the foun-
dation, Rendo finally succeeded in convincing everybody, including
former Agriculture Minister Giovanni Marcora and the new president of
Coldiretti (small f armers~ association), Arcangelo ~,obianco, that soy-
beans were a good bet, particularly if planted as a second crop, right
after wheat. What's in it for Rendo? One of his companies, Coma, has
already taken in 400 million lire on distribution of seed soybeans to
farmers and on buying and reselling the crop to the Ferruzzi conglome-
~ rate in Raveiu~?a. And yet in 1980 only some 30 or so farmers planted
soy~eans in the south. According to Rendo's experts (a group of them
spent several months on Ferruzzi f arms in Latin America studying soy-
bean cultivation techniques), this crop could be grown on 100,000 hec-
tares of southern land. Should it come to that, the profits could be
enormous, especially for people who, like Rendo, have had the fore-
sight to be ready for it. Already standing in the port of Catania are
~ four bie~ elevators ready to store the soybean crop and load it aboard
ships bound for the north.
In the eyes of Rendo's f oes, ~he soybean deal is a typical example of
the way a private operator can impose his personal plaruiing on an in-
ert bureaucracy. Many of them complain, too, that he has used the
same tactics in Sicindustria, the Sicilian industry assaciation, where
his oldest son, Luigi, is in charge of drafting programs. The sarae
lament is heard f rom the National Homebuilders' Association (ANCE), on
- whose board of directors sits still another Rendo son, Eugenio.
Rendo, though, is not a man to quail in the face of accusations. He
already has two more really big projects on the back burner. The first
of them has to do with the tourist trade. Rendo has commissioned se-
veral international consulting companies to do a study on ways to g.et
- money into Sicily in joint ventures by the big travel agencies and
financial institutions.
The second project has to do with the imminent arrival of Algerian na-
tural gas on the island. "If the [Sicilian] Region does not move in
time, we sha11 bring out a proposal ourselves, one we already have
ready in the files," warns one of Renda's inner circle. Meanwile,
Mario Rendo has lost no time in setting up two companies to bring na- _
tural gas to eastern and western Sicily. "Whatever happens," says one
of his managers, "we are not going to be caught napping.~~
Lots of Relatives and 2 ~ Compani.es
Only a few months ago, Mario Rendo determined to reorganize the jun-
gle of his companies and set up a real holding company, albeit a11 in
the f amily. To do it he created FIMAI, with ~ billion lire in capital,
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built the three big thermal power plants at Melilli, Tavazzano, and
Monf alcone. He also carried off a prestigious contract from the EEC _
to build the steel tower at Adrano, a pilot plant for solar energy;
and in France he put in the winning bid for a share of the work on
the Superphenix nuclear power plant in Lyon. "Aaide from Bellelli of
Taranto, we are the only people in the South who can handle nuclear
busineas," says Impa's Antonio Moretta. "We formed a consortium to
t ake on construction of the Montalto di Castro power plant, which was
a 180-billion-lire job."
Thirty years as a public contractor have made Rendo a very rich man.
The C atania magnate is right now getting ready to launch his second
yacht in the little private marina in Catania, where the whole family
keeps its boats. Very shortly, now, there will be the formal opening
of the fourteen sumptuous villas at Cannizzaro, on the slopes of the
Cat ania hills, where he, his sons, and his grandchildren will take up
residence : a family clan of 30 or so people, all of them substan-
tially supported by him. Rendo's generosity has become legendary all
over Sicily, even among his employees and guests: at birthday parties
he hands out solid gold pendants in the shape of elephants (~Catania's
symbol), and crocodile handbags.
This overnight wealth has not invariably drawn favorable comment, how-
ever. Many Sicilian industrialists, especially the small and medium
ones, accuse him of crowding out everybody else. ~'He knows too many
people, he has too many influential people looking out for him, and
cont racts come up tailored to measure for him," complains one small.-
industry entrepreneur in Sicily. There is consternation, too, among
the big corporations in Rome who dominate the government contracting
~ scene. The charge they lavel against him is that he has expanded the
"Sic ilian system" to a national scale. Rendo, they allege, managed to
, get himself a f at slice of public works contracts because he systema-
tic ally and aggressively underbid other contractors, and because he is
a personal friend of some key men (such as Education Undersecretary
Antonio Drago, a fellow Catanian and a Christian Democrat) and a number
of government officials.
Rendo's men retort that this is merely jealousy or worse that the
northern industrialists cannot stand to see a Sicilian get ahead of
them. "I am working for the future of my land, for Sicily," Rendo
often says. And he boasts of having brought a plant installations
firm in Milan, Sacma, back ~.nto the black after its former owners had ~
run it to the brink of bazkruptcy (Sacma provided installations for
suc h prestigious clients as the Munich subway system).
One of Rendo's smartest moves was made back in 1975, when he set up the
Mario Rendo Cultural Foundation, which served as springboard for a lot
of Rendo's own activities. A few years back, when the maestro had set
up a company of his own to buy Canadian farmland, the foundation spon-
sore d a twinning ceremony between Milan and Toronto. Since then it has
run studies and published magazines and pamphlets on irrigation in
Sicily and on methods of citrus growing, because both these sectors
are rich sources of contracts for Rendo indust~ries. The biggest and
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whose shareholders are, in addition to himself as president, his sons
Luigi (33), Eugenio (32), Ugo (29), Massimo (21), his daughters Grazia
(23) and Marcella (1$), his brother Ugo (5$), Ugo's children, Luigi
(30), Grazia (20), and Maurizio (1~, and his friend Umberto Campagna
and Campagna's three school-age children. The chain of command in the
new company is still embryonic: brother Ugo, for exaraple, looka after
the administrative side, while Umberto Campagna is more or less in
char~ge of housing construci;ion.
FIMAI has 100 percent control of a foreign holding company, FIMAI Lux-
embourg, which in turn controls still another three companies: Agrofil
Austria, Agrofil Germany (selling freeze-dried fruits and vegetables),
and a Canadian farming corporation which is, for the time being, inac-
tive. ,
At home, FIMAI is incorporating the conglomerate~s companies into
groups on a sector-wide scale.~ In metalworking there are four compa-
- nies: Sicilprofilati, Impa and Zime (both in Catania), and Sacma in
Milan, which can build anything from bridges to power plants, with a
combined capital of 10 billion lire an annual volume of business of -
55 billion, and 1,000 employees.
The plant and installation sector is covered by Saem, capital 3.2
billion volume 1$ billion, and 2$0 employees, one of whose contracts
covers ~gas] purification for the August area.
Bigger complications surround transfer to the holding company of the
construction companies which by themselves account for 110 billion
lire of billing and provide jobs for 2,000 people: only three of the
six companies (Mec, Immobiliare Siciliana, and Soceos) are stock compa-
nies, while the other three (Rendo Mario, Rendo Ugo, and Campagna
Umberto) are held collectively. In agribusiness, with 11 billion in
billing, there are two stock companies: Comes (soybeans) and AVP
(the orange-tr~e ~.nursery), but another five are cooperatives, including ~
the Agrofil freeze-drying plant billion lire volume), the Passo
Martino ranch (3,000 head of ~attle, 10,000 hogs), and Costantina, the
biggest orange and tangerine spread in Sicily (the others are Trinacria
and the Rendo Brothers Grove Association, with 100 hec~ares of orange
- groves). "
- Rendo also holds minority interests in Sipem of Enna, which makes con-
crete pipes, does 8 million lire worth of business annually; is a part-
ner in the Lodigiani and Graci companies (Rendo is president); in
Hobas Italiana, of Enna, which makes fiberglass pipes (other Lodigiani
partners are Parasiliti construction, Hobas cheraicals of Basel); in
SCEV of Catania (concrete railroad ties), which bills 5 billion a year, -
and in Sicop Coignet of Mi1an, pref ab building, billion 6 billion.
Sooner or later, all these interests will ?~e pulled together under
FIMAI.
COPYRIGHT: 1980 Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., Mil~n
6182
Cso: 3104
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COU1~PrRY SEGTTON NIl~UrA
' P'~R D~,TAII.S O~Q~TI'ATI(~1 WITH LIBYA~ FOREIGN PCII.ICY
Pa~'is AL-~VATAN Atr-'ARABI in Arahic 26 Dec 80-1 Jan 81 pp 20-23
, LArticle by PU'ad Abu Mans~: "Dan Mintoff to AL~~TAN AIr-"ARABI: We Start~ed
the Battle with the Libyans and Will IInerge Triu~hant in the End"7 -
Peaple wln lm~ow the secrets of Maltes~Libyan relatio~ns reaLize that the
spute wer e~loration fo~ oil on the "vositine.ntal shelf" was the point at
w~ich the ew~er fl.cxaed over the f]~oating part of the ioel~+g that had farn~ed
, betw~een the island and the ja~nahiriyah. Why has the Li.byan~laltese hoaieymoon
~ ended, witi~ no hape of rettaning? The Maltese pranier, Nh~ Dan Mintoff, re-
, veived AL-~AN AIr-'ARABI's c~resporx3ent ar~d related the whole stary to him.
Ae said, "We toak the ini.tiativ~e of starting the fightirig. We thraa aut the
' ~Y~, ~Y le;ft, and i.n the end we will energe victo~ri,ous ~n ansvaer to '
ather q~xestions, the Maltese leader sk~t~ched the outlines of historic relations
bet~ween the Arabs ar~d Malta.
The first day I arrived in Valett,a, the grime minist~er of Malta, N~ Dam Mintoff,
invited me to his office in the Castel Hatel, situabed at the top.of the hill in
; the taan of Valetta, to discvss the questions I had sent him before ooming bo the -
islarbd. ~ -
, During the vouase of the inteYView, ~specially ~ere it toLx3~ed any points be~ir-
in~ on the Maltese-Libyan dispute and its ramificatiorB, Mr Dan Mintoff sug-
gested that I sketch out an integrated pictin~e af Maltese coa'iditions, the body o~
the eoorianic and soci.al develo~ents which had oocurred on th,e stage of public
life sinoe the dep~arture of the last cxntingent of 7, 500 British troops who had
been stationed in its naval b~a,ses.
F'o~ this rea.san, he invited me to attend a sessi~ of discvssio~ of the ger~eral
Y~udget for 1981 in the buildin3 of the Gran Maestro, the parliamPnt which
h4uses 65 Maltese deputi~. 34 of whan be]~ang tb the Socialist Labo~
Party, the rest (31 deputi~s) beirig distributed ~roa~g various q~position blocs,
most impo~tant of which is the Malte~e National Party, which c~a~as most of the
men in the o~ositian.
i
I went into the "palace of the great t~ea~cher" in the wpacity of an ol~servp.r
who was neutral as regards the Maltese ~~7;*~ PartY~ to which Dan Mintoff belar~gs,
' and the appositioci b].ocs chaired by Dr Eddy Adami. I notiaed the presenve of
tsa~ Wamen in the groverrn~nt seats. Lat,~r, I lerztz~ed fihat the Malt,e~e gav+en7mettt
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and parliament ooa~tain one repre~tiv~, Levelyn IDi]~lc, .~aaale and m~'ni,sw
ter who is in chan~e of respa~sibilities far culture and soci.al atfairs an Dam
, NLintof f' s gave.rn~nent, Agatha Barbara .
The impressi.on I rece,iv~ed after 3 hours af peaoe:fvl "oonfrontation" bebween
- the Maltese and onpositi.an is that the c~anocratic life prevalent
in Malta to a large extent r~anbles the damcra~,ies of Plestern Et~o~pe. Sessi.ons
are apen and discussions are heated. The deputi~s' research is corycentrated
ce~ the gaverra~c~ent's shartoccni.rxJs in one field or arx~ther, while the people watch
and reflect with~ut c~bstacles or restrictions.
The neact day, the daily papers caQne aut with nunercws headlines an the debate
over the new budget. Gannents rar~ged fran su{~ort t~o provocation and accvsatiarl.
Haw~ver, they w~xe un~nimpus avpx the need tro pr~serve the principles of n~u-
trality Dan Mintoff had fornnil.ated thr~ugh a cohesiv~e ecorzany alhich will suffice
far the re~nts of the island and will keep it far a~way fran allianc~
which gen~xally e~ort political positions wra~d in eco~anic aid or lor~g :
telm
loans.
The Maltese peq~le tAday relate ev~ts in the histary of the island by saya.ng, ,
"This happened before the breakoff with L.iUya," or "aft~r it", just as 6 yeaxs
ago they dated events by the British presenoe or the British evacuation fran
Malta. This is because the island's e~erie.n~e with v~]~anialism is a lor~g one
replete with vontradictions and evertts.
It is well kr~owtz t~oday that the British oolceiizatian of Malta lasted 150 y~ears,
from 1814 to 1964. It vTas one of a series of oan.~sts af nuuP.~rou.s types arid
sorts which the islar~d had lQ~aam sinoe the c3~wri of history because of its stra-
tegic location, which controls the sauthexn entries to Europe Cltaly, Spain and
the Strait of Gibraltar) , the entries to the crns~tries of the Maghreb (Libya,
Tunisia and Algeria) , and the watezways leading to the Middle East via the
w~estern Medi.terranean .
This sensitive location attracted the trik~es of the Viki Phoeni~ians,
~ Carthaginians, Byzantines, Ranans, Arabs ar~d (~.v.sad~ers, as gt~bodied in tfie
Knights of Malta, follvo,red by Napol.~on for a very sho~t time until the ~
British invaded Malta after crushing Napoleon's fleet at the naval battle of
Abu Qir in Egypt.
In 1974, Malta was cleclared a denocxatic republic. The position oF p~zme ministPs
took the place of that of the British gwernor, vmzsider%ng that the p~esident
occupies an horyorary positio~, in the ~glish manner. For the ~irst time, on
31 March 1979, the territoYy of the island of Malta was enptied of a foreign
military presence. The Maltese oel~rate this "historic ~vent" and oonsicler the
date of the evacuation of the last foreign solriier "FreeBam Day."
Hc~wever, this event. made the island face the responsibilities of total indepen-
dence as a oonsequence of its depart~e fran the firmament of the Ccmrormealth,
and it decided to j oin the on~anization of n~naligr~ed states . It o~nsolidated
its relations with intPxnatio~r~a7. sociaLism thrax~i the Ma].tese Socialist Workers'
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Party's participation in it. It ].au.mched an appeal to neighborir~g and friendly
ootmtries to i.rYVest in industrial and oarme.rcial projects there. Sccne oaintries
refrained fran answerirg, ~ile other aotmtries hastened to ber~efit fran the -
"historic iuivitatioaz" which Drn? Mintoff had issu~d.
The Libyan jaQnahiriyah has been in the forefro~t of ca~tries that have tried
to play a significant role in the republic af Malta. It drew up a policy of
' "outstretched hands" toward Malta starti.ng in 1964, and this relationship was _
fianly plantedwith tl~e arrival o� President Mu'aam~r al-Qac~c~?afi to power in
1969 .
Libya offered financial and technical aid t~o the labor gov~errm~ent of Dan Mintoff
to help it rid itself of Western influenoe and ~te it far~ the loss of r~-
venues frcm the Western naval and air bases w~ich existed there. Libyan invest
ments in Malta today are estimated at about $120 million in hatels, factaries,
cultural and technical c~ters, and a shipyard.
The Maltes~Libyan "honeymoon" reached its peak in 1969, wl~ President al-
~cIl~afi visited the is].and and met with a great we].oome. Cersronies were held
in his land in Malta and its two islar~ds o~ Go2o and Canim. al~ac~c~afi did
mt hesitate to give the Maltese gw~erranent fiv~e helic~optPxs and various fonns of
aid, arr~ he set farth a schedule for ux~easir~g Li.byan grojects ai~d irn~stments
in the island.
Hawcver, the sands between Tripoli and Valetta shifted quickly. Signs of bad
times began to gather in the skies wpx the trao capitals. T'~e dispute rea~ched
its peak when Libyan warships forcibly intervened air3 prevented the drilL~hip
Sime-2, which the Texivo vampai~cy had rented fran the Italian arganization ENI,
fran followiryg up on its explaration for oil in the "continental shelf" under _
dispu~te between the two cotmtries .
People whp are kr~awledgeable about th~e secrets of Libyan-Ma~.t~ese relations oansider
that the dispute aver the "ooaltinental shelf" and its bo~ries is the straw
that broke the baak of the arrangarents aver which the tw~ ooiuitries had reached
agreanent; they had been foLax3ed oai the special calculatioms on ea~ch side, as
di stinct f ran the aspirations and ~nbitioa~s of the other . Not even Dan Mintoff
hides the faat that "this dispute has continued t~o l~k like a ghost aver the
totality of his disucsions and agrearnnts with Presic~ent al~adhc~afi."
Tn~en I met the Maltese premier and aksed him about devel~c~snents in the dispute
between Malta and Libya, he clfaplt ~ proLix exp].ar~atio~ns at length. He brought
a map in orci~x to shaw me the cn~ af the dispute specifically, st~portir~g hi.s
statenents with ~nts sic~ned in Vale~ta by Taha el-5harif ibn 'Amir, ministez
of state for Revolutionary Crnm~d Camcil Affaiss, on bPhalf ~ Libya, and
Wistin Abella, minister of developnent on behalf of Malta, statir~g,
"0~ 23 May 1976 we signed an agreenent with I~ibya calLing for the dispute betwe~n
us to be sul~itted tA the T~-P~tional. Court of Justice in the Hagtle CI'he Nether-
lands) . It was o~ aim, in c~oing this, tn contirn~e on the path of coapFxation,
hapi.ng that the ca~etent interna.tivnal bodies would guarantee the resolution of
the dispute and tfiat soop~ would ~t be granted tA others to e~loit it and
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peo le's Con-
dat~age the ttiao ooimtires. To thi.s c3ay, we vansider that the Libyan P
ferenoe has rr>t ratified the 1976 p~ot~oo~l beari.n9 on t~e s~i~i�~ of the cor~
~sti.tvtion c3oes not give the 9'o~rerrnrn-nt the right
tinental shelf . The Li.byan
to har~d o~ver agreanents which have not yet been ratified to int~e.rnational arbi-
tratio~ bodies. We previously mtifiec3 Seare~taxy Gene~al R~t Wa]~lhi.em twioe on
thi.s situati~cn."
/~~uestion~ Ti~4~at results did yau reach after going to Ru~t Wal~eim? Is there the
pranise of positiv~e measures in the near futx~e?
We set out a clear warki.ng P7~n in ~is r~~ � We wanted t~o take the
vi~~~intexnational bodies in~ a~eoamt. Hawever. I cbubt the sinoerity of the _
~Yan gwern~ent's intentions reg~ ~ transfer of the matter to the ~urt.
We learned that I~i.bya s~ggested to Diego Cord~v~z, the Unit~ed Nati~n's. se~:aYY
ge.neral's special representativ~e, that LiUya agreed to reoord its application with
the International Coiu.t of J~istioe, but it gave erroneous inforn?ation in the state-
ment it sutmitted to the reAres~ntative of the secre~tary g~er'al of the United
Nations while he was in Tripoli. Une a~aazin9 fea~ure"-is that aft~er oo~'~lusion of
the agreanent with Malta, Li.bya concluded ariother agreement with Tunisia related to
the extra territoriality of oilwells in tY:~ sea� The Libyan pe~Ple's C~fer'~e
ratified the latter aqreane~lt but not the fornier. SecxetaYy Ge~ral Wa].c3he~m set
15 Decanber of this year as a final opportunitY far I~b~ya t~ ratify the agrearn.nt
transferring the dispute to the Worl~d Co~urt. Today we have go~me beyon~ that clate,
and there are no prospects on the ho~izon. We have info~med Dr Kurt Wa7 delvm that
Libya will nat h~or its p~aposals to distx~s the dis-pute with us.
Jallud Is the Cactplication
~Q~t~itan/ What meas~es will Malta take rx7w that that date has passed without
the agresrent ~ rat~f ied by the L~bya~ peoPle ~ S Cor~gre~'
/An..swer~ After this date passed it b~r.ame clear tA us that Maj 'Abd-al-Sal~n
Jallud was the or~e camplicating the issue and delaying discussion af the matter.
/Question/ Dould we learn about the headings ~nd the particulars of the agree-
~ich is still waitirx.J for People's Coa~gress approval?
ment you signed with Libya.
~p,nswer~ The agreanent consists of an official, legal cor~tract representirr~ the
wills of the gwernments of Malta ar~d LibYa whi-ch is au~ed at rea,~hirig oonclusior~s
which will make it possible to oontinue e~plaration vp~sations in Maltese terri-
torial waters. One of the oonsequences o~ this P~~-~ is th.at the S~me-2 drill-
ship which the Texaw Canpany r~t~ed fran the Italian on~anization E~1I has Ieft
the site and gone back tA the Adriatic to 8ri11 f~ gas. In the menarand~an of
protest ~:~i~ch we presented to ~the UrLit~d Nations, we stressed our right to these
waters arid said that the Lib~yan 9werrm~en~ shr~uld offer fi.zm proof to the oon-
~~y, ~hasizir~g that it has th~ will t~o ocmnit itself to int~'nati�~l Pr'ac-
tices arid perniit ccn~aletion of the drilling of the w~l.l, and the threa~t
ofsus-
pend~d as a result of the interverxtian of Li]~yan vTarshiPs
force.
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This is the l~al backgrotmd fran uthi.ch our pzoce~res axe desa,ved. Tn 1976, as
r~a~cr3s the headings of the agreenent we condluded, it obsPxves these goals:
"The two ga~nts of the Re~x~Ulic of Malta and the Libyan Arab Jam~hiriya.':
request the international oourt t~ iss~e its decxee on this matter:
" 1. De~inir~g the bases of international law which can be applied in detersn~ining
the c~tinental shelf belongi.ng to the Republic of Malta, the area of the con-
tin~ental shelf belorigir~g ta the I~ibyan Arab Jartn~ahiriyah, ancl means which will
c~rantee that the principles are applied by the two parties. _
~ "2. As a resul.~ of the issuance of the o~urt's final deGree, bilateral nego-
tiations will take place to detenni.ne the two aontir~ental shelf areas within -
the barders of each ootmtYy .
"3. This agreement will ~ valid as of the date o~ exdzaix~e of the doc~unents
ratifyi.ng it."
This Is What We Zbld the Arabs
, jQuestior~ Western media have reneatedly poin+-.sd aut that Malta mad,e a mistake
ex~ing the British by the Libyans. What is yr~ir caunent?
%Ans~rex% We have always told Arab leaders that we are not a celestial body re-
volving in the Libyan fisma�nent. We have acted with Li.bya in a manner we have
been prepared tA act with every cotmtry in the Mediterran~an basin e~cept Israel.
We hav~e asked all fri~dly cotmtries to ser~d miLitary delegations to the island.
Sane, like Algeria, Italy and Li.bya, resporr.3~'d to the request an3 oth~.rs, such
as France, abstained. As regard.s oonstniction of a radio station in Malta, we
_ have asked all Arab o~untries to participate. Only President al-~Qadhdhafi an-
~ s~sed our appeal. When the other Arabs want~d to part:icigate, they asked us
to e~el the Libyans. Naturally, we refused, proceedir~g fran the pranise that
aur decisions are indepenc]ent. Today thexe are Libyan institutes in Malta. The
e~lanantion of this is that we have o~pened the door to the various cauntries
- around us and have given facilities ~c~o all. There also are Amesican institutes
on the island. If their d~ors ar~e shut t,oday, that is bec~,ause those in charge
~ of than have decided th3t it wa.s not i.n their interest t~o run thaa. The I~ibyans
have been shraad~r thar? others because they have bided their time. Wh~en they
threatened the oil drilling coritractAr, we expelled then fran the island, they
yielded tA our will, ar~d left. Today the Europeans re.fuse to acknowledge that
there is no I,ibyan mil:itary presenoe in Malta. Thi.s may be attributed tc~ the
fact t1~at they had ~ases on the island in the past. I in turn ask the EU~eans:
- Do you recognize the :~ew legal status on the island? If the answer is affis~za-
tive, I aQn prepared to extend the hand of cvoperation to then. The holy Koran
says, "Maybe you hate a thi~ which is gc.~d for you." The Maltese-Libyan
dispute e~rq~hasizes to the Arabs today that Malta wants to ~n'~~n free.
%Question% There is information to the effact that t-.he qu~estion of the oon-
tinental shelf is not the only majar one between Libya and Malta. Are there
other cat~ises which have led ~o the divorce after the long ~~honc-ynr~on?�
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jlns~raex/ Froblens and diffic~lties always a~r in re]..ations between ~states. The
ques~i.on of the a~ntinental sfielf w~s negle~ted for a long time, ~ and here it is
ttx~ay blc~ring up in its currenc fo~in. We see n~rous disputes a�rong oountries
as regards the open seas. We we11 rsne~xr haw the dispute I~ake out betwe~ri
Libya and Tunisia, r~t just because of the continental shelf; there arn more
ca~licated issues be~t.ween the two co~tries. If the Maltese peaple today
have enbarked on a sti~gle agaiinst Libya, that is beca~e of their fism beli.ef
that they wi.ll enen3e triunphant frcm it, especially si.r~e we are th~e oaies who
!~ave taken the initiative in starting the battle, while the Lib~yans are con-
tinuing t~o stress that they are detennined to prooeed ~rith t.he frie.rx~ship they ~
f eel far us in various f ields .
%Question~ '~fiat a~riclusion have yvu reached in ths context of oil exp7~c;ration
in Maltese territorial waters? Is the isl.and slated ~ join the "club of oil
states" in the near future?
/An.ssaer/ That is a di.fficult qu~stiom. Up to today, w~e cannot speak with cer-
tainty about the qt~ntities of oil pre.sent he~e. There are positive signs in
this regard, and numerous oanpanies are si~mitting applications tr~ engage in
drilling in our territo~ial ~sters and have taken risks to that end. This is
proof of the likelihood of f.ir~di.rig oil. You can publish what I tell ycau in
Air-G~41TAN AI.r-'ARABI: we are ready tocl~zy to sign new agreements with the explora-
_ tion oanpanies, in a,ccordanoe with o~ garticular conditians, to drill for "black
gold. " Eight or nir~e ocmpanies are asking us for maps and doc~e.nts on the
drilling locations, and they are pr~pa.red to start operatiar~s aftex bids are an-
nounced. The proof all lies in the positiv~e results, but we carmot make any
de~inite statanents about the size car quality of oil deQo,sits; we lack c~ocu-
mented proof in this regard.
%Question~ It is stated that Yugoslavia hasteried to serr3 a militazy force to
Malta to protect ttve irr3epend~enoe of the island and take precautions against
surpr. ise events to which it could be exposed. Are there te~or-~y defense
measures be~en you and Yugoslavia? _
/Answer/ When we conclude agreenents with i.rrternational pa~-ties, we stress
most clearly that our measures 1ie within two lunits which cannot be passed
wer the freedan and neutrality of Malta. These two Limi.ts wi11 be of benefit
to the various peapl.~es of the Meditexranean. We are able for ex~-~nple to receive
Saviets in our ports, b~t refuse to do so, taking the interests of the countries
adjace~nt to us into cflnsidexation. The Ital.ians have actually signed treaties
with the ~nericans and have h4sted then in military bases in the islands of
Sardinia and Sicily. Malta is free tA irivite any aountYy at all to its terri-
tories, i.c~clUdim~ the Saviet Union. We hav~e c,hosen our systen with total freec7~n.
Our choice is based on keeping the Americans aru3 the Soviets vut of Malta.. The
countries which agree with ~~s wer this must extend us help to achieve our goals.
Yug~oslavia has cane to the island not to expel Libya but to preserve our neu-
trality and freedan. Li.bya ha.s not occupied Malta; it has just expelled tYbe
marine aontractor. In fihis field, w~e canrx~t talk about the occ~upation of the
island. The news the media have circulated is grossly exaggerated.
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%~uestion,/ Diplcanatic observpxs im ~rab capitals h~ve obs~rved that yau.toak
a decisive stand regarding the Palestine cause, during the last international
socialist v~nference, held in Madrid, ar~d tlzat ycu seem to be re~ecting the Camp
David schanes. You are calli.ng for the establishnp.nt c~ an indep~ndent Pal~eg~
tinian state. Is this a special position of Ma1ta's os is it the position of
international socialisn in gernxal?
,
~~LLL7~Gi~ VI.IL ~Zl.1Vi1.5 VI.rJ^a~`VZ.S 611C .:41tih1..{.1~. brG?~ ~~7 iA/1. .Ll. ~P
tn the days of the E~lish occupation of the island. At that time, we were
ea~xcising o~ political presence, a~i had it mt been for that p~resence aae would
' rr~t have gained c~ irr.~ependenoe. W~ stressed our starid, althougfi a11 these .
European coimtries, including Frar~ce, refrained �~rcan doin9 anything to make -
oolonialism leave the island, Etren Ge.rnxal De Gaulle, w~Yr~ worked tirelessly to
~ reduce the F'rench coloniaY presenoe in the warld and to implant the freedan of
France, refrair~ed fran helping us, arr.~ preferred tA have us remain a coloriy of
the Atlantic Pact and its Mec3it~erranean base. This office of min~ tised to be
the Atlantic Treaty aperations roan for the Medit~exraryean.
Up to 1967 Malta was cautiaus about friendship wi.th Israel and the Arabs, After
the 6-day war, we told the Israelis that tl~ey had to gc~ back to the 1967 botux~a-
ries. Our position ~tc~,rard Israel today is ba.sed on its re~usal. to go back tn its
old barders. This does mt mean t~at we are in favor of the anni:hilatioal of -
Israel. Haaever, we conde~ its exgansionist settler po1.i..cy.
L~uestion~ Therefore yau are claiming that Israel must go back to th,e 1967
boundaties. However, isn't it necessazy to fo~n a clear political n~tio~ of the
Palestinian state, realizing that it is rr~t an issue of bo~~ders but an issue of a
presence?
- /Answer% If there is a return to the 1967 borders, the basic oamnlexiti..es of the
probl~n will be on their way to a solution. I3o misurx~rstarxling wi11 then renain
~rong the Arabs themselves about farmu~ ~ ting a specific policy on the Pa1es-
tinian state.
%Question~ You oondenn Israeli policy and oonversely accept a pernx~nent Israeli
di~lomatic mission to Malta. Isn't thexe a aontradiction between the theory and
th~ application'?
L1lnswer% We are striving for a just resolution to the Palestinian c~use. Our
positions in international sociali.sm bear witness t~o that. We wpxe the first
country tA have en~ougfi co~age to present the cause a.n all its dimensians and
, oo~lexities. Today, we consic7ex that rnanerc~us oountries have started to follvw
our steps. I see rx~ contradiction between our theoretical position and our
practical one. We are rr~t, thank God, afflicted with political schizflphrenia.
Prooeeding frcm thi.s prenise, we are se~king a resolt~uion to the Palestine cause
which will be con.secrated in a svvc~xei.gn state.
%Questior~ Investigations into the e~p~soc3e of the ex~losion in the ~ewish
synagogue in Paris (on Rue Copernic~ae) hav~e revealed that the person who set off
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the expl.osion was beari.ng t~o passportsr one C~p~riot ar~d the other Nk1l.tese. Have
you sufficiently studied the circtm.star~ces of th~.:s i.ssue?
%Answe,rr
f Here in Malta explosions have occurred arwnd whirx! a curtain o.f o~r-
scvrity has descended. They w~re directed against Libsrans. 'I'hey go ~ck be- _
fore the dispute with Libya. These bambs wpse set off frcro ships aric.hored out
at sea. E~erts' reports established that these ban~~s were Israeli-made. Here I
might also refer to eaq~losior~s which occurred on board Li]~yan warships ar~I'~'ed in
Italy. Sane so~aes have rurored that the person oam~itting these a~cts was
Maltese and belonged tA a Maltese organizatian. We startred tro investigate and c~- -
f i~ned that this argani zation was rnnexistent arid that the means of c3etonation
- used were of st~ch canplexity that Itali.an e~erts have said that the Italian
navy is not proficien;: at the use of this techrx>logy. The Maltese are whplly
iyriorant of these means and techniques. Tliey conf~ent thenselves with a few fire-
crackers on regligious holicl~-rys.
As regards the Maltese passpart which was in the possession of the agent setting
off the explosions in Paris, I can refer here to to the episode of the theft of
nine passports frcan o~ ~nbas.sy in Paris abaut a y~ear ago. Our irivestigatic~ns ~
have not readzed a positive ooryclusian in this regard.
~~estior~/ Are the Maltese police watching the oorxfixct of the Israeli diplanatic
mission on the island?
%1~nswer/ We ha~ve Lib~yan, Israeli and Palestinian diplcmatic missions o:~ the
is].and. ~ery~one is oatmitted to respe~ct Maltese swereignty. When acts are
- oam~utted which infringe on our security and freec~an, we e~el the persons who
perpetrate them without hesitation. If we possess vonfirn?ation of Israel res-
ponsibility for the explosions against the Libyans, we will not hesitate one ~.nt
to expel the Israelis. Thanks to God, we di~o~ve.red those bcsnbs before they went
off and spared o~selves dra~natic develognents.
~~uestion~ You are e~~asizing int~rnational sociaLism ar~d its premises in solv- -
ir~g the Palestinian cause. ~'here are facts w:zi.ch erga~7asize that this socialism ~
in nunerous occasions I~as bee.n a plat~o~n for Zionism, its ap~eal, and its
cultural and political orientations.
,
/-answer~ I do rnt agree with this stat~anent of y~urs. We m~ast ur~derstar~d and
appreciate the historic circ~anst~nc~es carefully and s~ecifically. It is well -
]~r~wn that European socialism was in the var~r~l of persar?s fighting Hitler
' and wnrking to destroy his pawer. It so happeried tl~at the m~t grcminent persons
fighting Hitler wpse Jews. It was they who fo~ught agai.nst Franco and Mussalini�
~erefore, it is hard for us t~o ignore their good cleeds in the struggle which
changed the face of modern history. The victims of werld fa.scism c~rere ~ews. Wi11i
_ Brandt, Kreisky ar~d their Like paid a high price for tizeir participation in the
stn~ggle, arr3 today they are working alorr~side us ar~d helping i~ crystallize
decisions which lie within ~the framewark of Palestinian intexests. That is the
moral legacy which bri.rr~gs the canb~atants of internatior~al socialism t~og~ether.
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I must unfortunately obsexve that the Ara~s have r~ot yet cxystallized this
cod~erent m4ral legacy, which i.s fou�lded on blood a~d s~c.ra:~ioe.
/~uestior~ What are the most im~ortar~t principles of Maltese n~utrality? Is
it a car~~on oopy of the S`wiss or Austrian rx~tioa'i of r~eutrality?
/'~nswer/ Our gecagraghical position is different fran S~ritzerlar~d's ar~ Austria's.
White t.he mo~tains protect S~witz~sland, Ntalta converseley is vpen to the sea on
all four sides. Proceeding frcm this situation, we are warking bo formu].ate
Maltese ~utrality, and to have it enc3~rsea. by internatio~al sourves through the
guarantee of four capitals, Algiers, Tripoli, Paris and Rane. We si.gned the
first agreenent with Rare, and this irnrolves o~ neutrality. l~nong the mr~st im-
portant principles of neutrality we hacve fo~nulated are:
1. No military based far any foreign power in Malta whatever.
" 2. Maintenanoe of equal distar~ce fran the great pow~ers.
3. Refusal to grant militaYy or logistical facilities t~ either of the s~pex-
I.~o~w~rs �
4. An effort to create a federal league among the peoples of the Med.it~rranean
Sea.
'I'hese are the bases which inspire the creation of a l~Bltese socialisn r~te fran
Soviet or Chinese orientations. O~a~ objective is tro bring society tb a stage
of grosperit~r and give the apporttmities to eve.ry~one to attain a suitable, dig-
nified life. In this path, we have called on Lfiesoo to I~ld its congerenve in
- M~lta at the end of December to cnnsecrate our historic role in fusing a single
cultural bond a~r~ong the peaples of the region, and I believe th~t Malta w~ll be the
mor~,el center for a marriage of Arab and ~u-apean civilizations in tYie Mediterranean.
~~uestion~ Yo~u have often stated that yau aspire to oonsecrate Malta's role as a
bric3ge 1~
nki m Furope and Africa to the Middle East. 4~fiat are the preni.ses and
goals of this role? irlhat apportunities can guarantse that it is realized'?
~?~nswer% S~n not actually the one wh~ aspires to this role; the Mal.tese people
are the ones making the call, We have been present in the Mec3iterrar~e.an sir~ce
ancient times but imfortunately w~e have always been pawns in the hands of stror~gex
parties, or pea~le who create artificial strength. Nonetheless, it has mt been~
possible for Us tA develap ar prosper. PTe have rarely pulled onrselves t.oyether',
because we have always been the victims of others - pea~~le who are skilled in the
ir~dustxy of war and enjoy repaying blaws. For the first time in fii.stazy, the
Maltese peo~le are beir~g given the opport~tm.ity to live like other p~o~les of the
warld. They do not want to be soldiers or sailars fo~ othex powPSS bat wa~t to
be the masters of their destiny arid live at peaoe with their neig~~bors. i+~en we
w~re under the yoke of English colonialism, Frar~e, Italy, Germany and Amexica
refrained fran helpir~g us. Only the socialist and labor parties helped us,
above and beyond the Arabs, and indirectly, the Swiets, r~ot aut of lwe for us
but because they w~re the eneny of those states. These are the relations which
bir~d us to Africa, Eurq~e and the Arab wo~ld. We do r~ot aspire to be a}~ridge.
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We are a natwral b~ridge, in reality. A~ a living people, w~e want tro exPloit
t r.e se ties for the c~ood of all. What can w~e do in other fields, i.n helping
to crystallize the unity of the peq~les of the Meditexranean in th~e eoomni.c?
cultural and political fields for the sake of a just peaoe? We have been de-
livered frcm a destiny which would nat~ally have l~ed us int~ the esnbrace o~
the ~ricans ar the Saviets. At the Helsinki conferenoe, we put tY�e issue
of the Mediterranean in the agen~da ar~d vaitpelled those atterr3ing the con-
ference to study it carefully. Fra~e su~ported us arY3 here I in particular
- recall the w~ll krxz~m interventions of our friend Michel Jobert.
%Questior~ After the death of Marshal Tito and the assu~tion by the C~.iban
president of the responsibilities of chairir~g tfie mnaligned ~nt, scme
Western dip].cxnatic circles have been whisperir~g that yau have ex~erted great ef-
forts to reach a position of responsibility in the ex~ec.'utive ager~cies of the
r~onaligned cotmtries' organizatian. Do yau actually have s~ch aspirations?
j-~ns~wer~ We want to wark with what nature has ~dowed us with� We az'e rr~t _
against Castro, but we want t~o create an effective socialisn� We are also not
- against the Yugoslavs who have rejected the Saviet road to socialism, have re-
fused to be a body in the Saviet orbit, and hav~e preserved this sYstem of diffi-
cult balance between America and the Soviet Union. O~ir hist~zy is different fran
that of Yugoslavia. President Tit~o pt~eec~d alongside the n~nali.gned mave~rent.
and their hist~ries have be~n int~erntixed. I~e relied on fries~ds of the weight of -
Sukarno, Nasir, and Zhou Enlai. When they died, the cloak of nonaligrcnent fell
on him ar~d he Hras oo~q~elled tA wear it. We are va~lled to ac+cept the con-
ditions which our history dictate to us, and the rePercussions that devolve upon
u~ from the conditions and positions of our neighbars.
/Question,/ Haw do you view Maltese-Arab relations, and what projects can guar-
antee that they are develapeci?
%Answer/ We have rel.ations mt just wi.th Li.bya but also with Algeria, Mproc~oo, the
Kir~gdcm of Saudi Arabia, TLUUSia, the two Yemens and the Palestin~-ans �'I'hese re-
lations, it is haped, w:ill develap in the near future. We are opening the daors
of the island to all Arabs. We have made Arabic l~aage instruction a re~uire-
ment in our schools. The new qeneration of Maltese speaks arr3 reads Ar'abic
fluently. This clecree of ours is based on the goals of cfloperation and inte-
gration between Malta and the Arab world. A weekley ~wspapex' will soon be issued
in Er~glish, Maltese and Arabic with the aim of strer~gthening cultur'al relations
between the Arab wc~rld and Malta. The Arab l~eaders must help Malta in this
sphere.
COPYRIGHT: 1980 "Al-Watan A1-'Ariabi"
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