Word: mitterrand
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...both the British and French governments have adamantly refused to let their missiles be part of U.S.-Soviet arms-control negotiations. "It would be a disaster," says Jacques Huntzinger, international-affairs adviser to French President François Mitterrand. "It would result in the dominance of SS-20s over Europe." For the foreseeable future, it will be up to the U.S. to keep the nuclear weapons of its European allies off the bargaining table in Geneva...
Whatever the mixture of motives behind Mitterrand's decision to break with the past, the political rewards outweighed the risks. A firm show of independence never hurt any political leader, and even the center-right opposition parties were obliged to approve the President's action. As for Mitterrand's Communist allies, they were in no position to complain without appearing subservient to Moscow. From Greece, where he was visiting, Party Secretary-General Georges Marchais dismissed any thought of leaving the government over the spy affair...
...Equally, Mitterrand had little to fear from the Soviets, if only because his relations with them already were chilled. The President has criticized Soviet policy in Afghanistan and Poland while supporting the controversial NATO decision to deploy medium-range U.S. missiles in Western Europe...
Taken aback by what one Moscow source described as Mitterrand's "un-French" behavior, the Soviets bitterly protested against the "arbitrary nature" of the expulsions. Though Moscow told a British diplomat and a newsman to leave, it took no immediate retaliatory action against France. Trade reprisals seemed improbable, since France already has a worsening trade deficit with the Soviet Union. Nor was it likely that Moscow would cancel imports of French machinery needed for the Soviet natural-gas pipeline project to Western Europe. The Soviets undoubtedly will find ways to make their displeasure felt, but experts do not expect...
...appeal. Says Austrian Prime Minister Bruno Kreisky: "It is a question of whether it is better to be pure or to have greater numbers." Perhaps, but by drawing more strident leftists into the fold, Brandt may ultimately weaken the movement's influence. As French President François Mitterrand's failure to send a high-powered delegation to Portugal showed, Socialist parties in power tend to have little time for the empty rhetoric of those that...