Pretty Gift

But will Berlinguer accept?

While French voters pondered the possibility of Communists in power, their neighbors in Italy were much closer to the prospect. After six weeks of caretaker government--close to a record even in Italy--Premier Giulio Andreotti went into a three-day meeting with the 398 parliamentary members from his Christian Democratic Party determined to win backing for a radical step to solve the crisis. Andreotti hewed to the party line, rejecting any deal that would give the Communists seats in some emergency Cabinet --as they had originally demanded. But he argued that in view of the "extreme gravity" of the situation, he should be given a mandate to negotiate "extraordinary parliamentary solidarity." This, in effect, would give the Communists a decisive role in the parliamentary majority. After much debate, his colleagues agreed.

At the same time, party conservatives imposed sharp limits on Andreotti's room to maneuver. No arrangement with the Communists could continue beyond year's end, when the Italian parliament is due to elect a new President; among other strict policy guidelines, allegiance to NATO would have to be maintained, and there could be no policemen's union affiliated with the Communist-dominated General Confederation of Labor--the rejection of a key Communist demand. Insisted Senate Whip Giuseppe Bartolomei: "The Communists must not be legitimized as a governing party, not even for a day."

Some Christian Democrats would not mind if Italy's political crisis continued to drag on for a while. They fear that a gain for the Italian Communists might help the French Reds at the polls, which in turn would strengthen Italian Party Leader Enrico Berlinguer's hand. As one Christian Democratic Deputy put it: "An agreement with the Communists here would be a joli cadeau (pretty gift) for Georges Marchais, just as victory for the left in France would be a merveilleux cadeau for the Communists here."

At week's end Berlinguer's Communists were still debating whether or not Andreotti's offer was attractive enough for them to help him try to form Italy's 39th government since the collapse of Fascism in 1943.

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