An Anxious Moment

Italy had a new Premier-designate last week. Out after nearly three years in office was scrappy little Amintore Fanfani, tagged with most of the blame for heavy Christian Democratic losses in last month's national elections. Summoned to Rome's Quirinal Palace by President Antonio Segni to get the nod as Premier was cautious, quiet Aldo Moro, secretary-general of the Christian Democratic Party.

Moro, 46, was the party's unanimous choice for the job; for good measure, their Cabinet partners--the Social Democrats and the Republicans--also supported him. Even Pietro Nenni's left-wing Socialists, so far excluded from the Cabinet but whose 87 votes in the Chamber of Deputies can make or break the apertura a sinistra (opening to the left), did not oppose Moro. The new Premier's backing, however, was far less solid than it seemed, and so is the future of stable government in Italy.

Taller But Sadder. Hoping to capitalize on the divisions in non-Communist ranks, Communist Boss Palmiro Togliatti. whose Reds were the biggest gainers in last month's balloting (winning 25% of the vote), warned that "the first phase of an extremely acute and bitter" political era had opened, and demanded that Reds be brought into the Cabinet. Nenni, under heavy pressure from his onetime Red allies to push the center-left coalition further left, threatened to do just that. In advance of a crucial Socialist Party congress in July, Nenni declared that he would demand "more advanced positions" as the price of his continued participation in the alliance.

From the other end of the political spectrum, the free-enterprising Liberals, who also made impressive election gains, were hopping mad. Liberal Leader Giovanni Malagodi bitingly labeled Moro "a taller, sadder Fanfani, but no less dangerous"; he promised to wage the "severest possible opposition" to the apertura.

Future Reforms. Last week it was the able Malagodi, 58, who made the most telling points against the philosophy of the center-left coalition and its schemes for more centralized government planning. He did not accuse the apertura's backers of being Communists, because they are not. But he bluntly stated the fear of many that the concept will in the long run make things easier for the Communists. "The big, positive things call for courage and a new political approach," he cried. "Taken together, they add up to an all-out fight against Communism . . . The opening to the left is founded on political ambiguity and a mistaken program. Both of these things encourage Communism, as is confirmed by the new Communist threats."

Moro believes in the opening to the left; in fact, he was one of its architects. He argues that socially. Italy needs the reforms (taxes, schools, agriculture) that the apertura contemplates. And he is convinced that politically, only the apertura can bring stable government to Italy under present conditions. He might well be wrong, as the Christian Democrats' loss and the Reds' gains at the polls suggest. But Moro is determined to keep the coalition alive. "It is," as Moro put it last week, "an anxious moment for our country."

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