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WEST GERMAN chancal/or candidatas, Kohl (/a/1) and Schmldt.
CAIPAIGNING IIGINS FDR
1171 GIRMAIIliCTIDNS
~
N;
1976 begins. West Oer·
mans like Amcricans are begin·
rung lO tum thcir attention
10
their ooming fall clections.
But unlikc thc still-oonfused
AmericaÚ campaign, tbc battle
hncs in Wcst Oerma11y are
clcar-cut and weU de6ncd. The
oontcnding parties have alrcady
put thcir interna! party
squabblcs bchind tbcm and
have settlcd upon tbeir candi·
dates for chanocllor in tbe
Oc:to–
bcr federal clection.
Thc decks havc thus becn
clcared for
a
vigorous national
campaign which is alrcady
moving into full swing_
SuñauUDity
At its biannual oongrcss in
thc industrial city of Maoohcim
in Novcmber. thc ruling Social
Dcmocrat•c Party (SPD)
patchcd up, for tbc most pan. a
thrcc-way idcological split in
thc party to achieve al least a
surfacc show of uruty. The SPD
is hcadcd by former Cbancellor
Willy Brandt (pany cbamnan)
aod currcnt Chaocellor Helmut
Schmidt (vice.<:hairman).
The split had involved thc
radical leftist faction of the
pany (tbe "Young SocialistS" or
J
usos),
tbc modcrates, and tbc
party's "right wing."
A oonsensus was finally ·
achicved, howevcr, and Brandt
and Schmidt werc ovcr·
wbclmingly rcelcacd to thcir
party
offices.
Scbmidt, the incumben!
chanocUor who sucocedcd to thc
offioc in May 1974 after tbc res·
isnation of Brandt in thc wakc
of an cspionagc scandal, was
prcdictably named
as
the
pany's chanccDor candidato in
thc ooming elcction.
FEBRUARY 1976
A Deadlock
in
the Bundestag!
Política! observcrs hold out
liulc possibility of thc SPD's
gaining an absolute majority in
tbc
Bund~stag
(tbe lower bouse
oC
parliamcnt) in tbc faU elce>
lion. Recen! publlc opinion
poUs indicatc tbat only an esti·
mated 41% ofthc vote will go to
the SPD.
To retain power,
thcrefore,
tbe SPD
will
havc
10
maintain
its ooalnion alliance witb thc
smaU liberal Free Democratic
Party (FDP), witb which
it
has
been in partnership siooc 1969.
Thc FDP, bcadcd by Chair·
ma.n Hans Dictrich Oenscher
(also forcign mirustcr in thc
Séhmidt cabinct), will com–
mand about
9%
of thc elector·
ate, according to currcnt
estimatcs. Thc SOCialist-liberaJ
ooalition, tbereforc, is expcc!cd
to pull
in
roughly
.50%
of thc
ballets.
Though the two coalition
partners bave bad tbcir sharc of
disagreemcnts, littlc chance is
seen of an actual brcakup at
this time_ (Prior lo 1969 tbc
FDP had becn allied with thc
SPD's rival, thc oonservative
Christian Democratic Un1oo.)
Tbe oppositioo CDU, bcadcd
by Chairman Hclmut Kobl
(govcmor of the Rhincland·
Palatinate slatc), along with its
Bavarian "sister" party thc
Christian Social Union (CSU),
also commands
a
combined
.50%
of tbc clcctorate, aocording
to polls.
A
closc battle bctween thc
two coalitions is thus indicated
for tbc faU elcction.
(Continu~d
011
p<~ge
4,
coL
S)
The Vatican's
NewActivism
Pope Paul VI has recently
launchcd major diplomatic of·
fcn.sivcs in two critica! arcas of
tbc world. tbc Middlc East and
Europe.
The Vatican Sccretariat for
non-Christians has oomc out
strongly
fof
a Middle East
peaoc scttlcmcnt which includes
"reoognition oftbc rightS ofPaJ.
estinians and a spccial status for
Christian holy placcs in Israel
and tbe lsraeli-occupicd west
bank of lbc Jonlan." Al
tbt
samc time the Vatican
is
prcs–
surmg tbe Israelí govcmmcnt
lO
release Archbisbop Hilarían
.Capucci who is now scrving a
12-year sentencc for guo run·
ning for Arab guerrillas.
Thc secretariat's pronounce–
mcnl, tbc Capucci affair, and
a
wbolc string of Vatican pro–
nounccmcnts over lhc past fivc
years which sb<¡w s1rong sympa·
thy witb Third World causes
secm to imply an incrcasing pa·
paJ
preferenoc for eommg down
on tbc Arab sidc of the Middlc
East cquation. Thc cll'ccts re·
main lo be seco, though it
sccms likely lhat the
Vaúcan
will benelit from tbe incrcasing
d•plomatic isolation of Israel.
Pope Paul has also initiated
severa! peace moves in Lcba·
érope
wjth
One
Voice
GROWING SOUDARITY
IN THE COMMON MARKET
BRUSSELS: The European
Community. or Common Mar·
ket,
is
incrcasingly speaking on
tbc intcmational socnc witb one
voice. Somo cxamples are:
• In thc Unitcd Nations thc
ninebavcadoptcdaoommonEuro–
pean position on major issues.
• Al tbc 27-nation north·
south dialogue begun Ibis past
Dcocmber in Paris, tbc ninc have
been rcprcsented by a single
spokesman. As a rcflccüon of its
evcr-incrcasing importanoc as
tbe world's greatest trading bloc,
tbe ECbastwooo-dlairmansh•ps
on thc fouroommittecscreatcd to
work throughout the ycar. No
otbcr nation or group of nations
was grantcdmore Iban one chau–
manship.
• Thc ninc Commomly na·
tionsjointly signcd tbc final actof
tbe European sccurity confer–
encc in Helsinki last August
wbcn ltaly's Prime Min.ister Aldo
Moro signcd in
bis
capacity as
Presiden! ofthc Europcan
Council
• During scveral sessions of
the Euro-Arab dialogue held last
ycar, a single European dclcga–
lion was present as a joint com·
muruty-oooperation excrcisc.
• Aficr thc Dublin oommu·
nity summit last March thc ninc
offercd their united services
toward helping achicvc a peace–
ful resolution
oC
tbc Cyprus
problcm. Thc Common Market
has associalion agreemcnt.s witb
thc tbree countries oonccrncd -
Greeoc, Turkcy, and Cyprus.
• The Commuruty last ycar
establishcd
a
ncw
European
unit of aocount bascd on
a
eom·
positc "basket" of lhe nine eom.
munity currcncies. Thc
members furthcr agrecd to in·
troduoc a uniform passport in
1978, in addJUon
10
holding Eu·
non. On Novcmber 10 he dis·
patchcd his personal cnvoy,
Cardinal Paoh Bertoli. to eon·
duct
talks
witb warring Chris·
tian and Moslem lcadcrs .
Cardinal 8crtoli personally
borc
a
leucr from the pope to
Lcbanon's Presideot Suleirnan
Franjicb
10
oonvey tbc pontilrs
"sympathy and readincss to
makc cvcry cfl'ort to restorc
peacc bctwcen tbe oonflicling
panies." While the Vatican ef·
forts in Lebanon bave mct witb
tittle succcss tbus far, thc sig·
nificaot fact is tbc pope's wiU·
ingness to pcrsonally beoomc
involvcd
in
a
Middle East dispute_
Mcanwhilc in Europe. tbe
Calholic Church has launehed
its biggest olfensive against
oommunism sinoc Pius
XII
ex·
oommunicatcd oommunist vot·
crs in 1949. Thc ltalian bishops'
rope-widc eleclions on the.same
day, in the spring of 1978, lo
clect rcprescnlatives to the Eu·
ropcan parliament.
N;
mucb oohesion as thesc
movcs show, tberc are yet major
changos nceded bcforc thc
Community can achievc it.s pro–
fesscd goal - a Europcan unioo
by 1980.
Oaston Thom, prcmicr and
forcign minister ofLuxcmbourg
who is also tbe currcot presi:
dcnt of the EC Council of Min·
isters. stated in an
1nterview
in
!he European cdition of
News–
wtek:
.....
it's impossible to
oontiouc
on
present
lines ...
undcr preseot c:onditions, we
only skim tbe problcms, wc
don't solve tbcm."
In addition to procedural
changos necded in thc presenl
structure, there are othcr arcas
tbat need profound alteration
and, in sorne
~.
bold ncw
iniuativcs if Europe is to oonsol·
idate it.s growing strcngtb in
world nfl'airs. These other areas
includc thc need for oommon
policies in dcfcnsc, foreign
af.
fairs, and energy,
10
mcotion
tbc most importan!.
Yet for all the petty
squabblcs that surfacc from
month to month among the
member states, tbc words writ·
ten by Antbooy Sampson sev·
eral years ago in ha book,
The
New Europeans,
hold cquaUy
truc today: "Howcvcr bitter thc
argumcnu al Brusse ls, the
Common Markct rcmains
a
new lund of forum wberc na–
tional rivalries take for grantcd
a oommon objective. . . . The
new machinery is still working,
stiU influcncing pcoplc and
bringing them
togcther.~
-ReyKosanl<e
oonfcrcnce recently droppcd lbe
bombshcU statcment tbat "ooe
cannot be simultancously a
Christian and a ManusL
~
Com·
ing as it docs at\er years of"dia–
logue" between Catholics and
Marxisls in order
10
cstablish
sorne
son
of oommoo ground,
tbc dcclaratioo undcrscores tbc
Vat.Un's fcar tbat IUtly might
eomc under oomrnurust domi·
nation .
Pope Pau l personally ap–
provcd tbe chango in policy
which rcftects
bis
growing
roo·
ocm that the Communists may
win tbc municipal elcctioos
in
Romc ncxt spring. Thc Com·
munistS alrcady control or sbarc
in
lhe
control
of every major
ltalian city except Rome and
Palcrmo. Witb tbc Commurüsts
winoing more
Iban a
tbird of
(Conllnued on
page 4,
col.
4)