ITALIAN DEBATE ON "HISTORIC COMPROMISE" RESUMES AS FALL OF RUMOR GOVERNMENT TAKEN FOR GRANTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-165-3-13-1
• Release Decision: RIPLIM
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: May 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: September 10, 1974
• Content Type: MEMO

No Objection to Declassification in Part 2010/05/28: LOC-HAK-165-3-13-1
V
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL 3973
ON-FILE NSC RELEASE INSTRUCTIONS
APPLY
INFORMATION
September 10, 1974
MEMORANDUM FOR SECRETARY.KISSINGER
SUBJECT:
Italian political leaders have resumed their. public debate on the
question of relations between Italy's major governing party -" the
Christian Democrats -- and the Communist opposition. Communist
leaders cite the country's new austerity program -- passed by
parliament in mid-August -> as fresh evidence that the four-party
coalition cannot govern against them. In parliamentary debate over
the austerity measures, Communist- sponsored amendments attracted
enough support from left-of-center elements within the coalition to
secure their passage. The amendments did not significantly reduce
the amount of revenue that will be taken in by the program, but they
did lighten the tax burden on low-income groups at the expense of
corporations and the more affluent.
only two weeks away, the following
is of topical interest.
Italian Debate on "Historic Compromise"
Resumes as Fall of Rumor Government
Taken for Granted
A. Denis Clift
25X1
The fall of Prime Minister Rumor's government in the near
future is now taken for granted by many leading personalities in
the four governing Italian parties. The Italian press is referring
routinely to an imminent political "clarification. " No viable
alternative to the center-left coalition formula -> Christian Democrats,
Socialists, Social Democrats and Republicans -w is yet in sight, but
1---.3 X_ It . -