Hawk in Socialist Feathers

By Henry Muller

Mitterrand backs a strong military in tandem with U.S. policy

Hour after hour they paraded down the boulevards of Europe's major capitals, some 200,000 in Brussels (the largest demonstration in the city since World War II), almost 200,000 in London, another 200,000 in Rome, taking to the streets to oppose deployment of new U.S. nuclear missiles in Europe. The smallest turnout was in Paris, where only 40,000 marched, a reflection of the fact that France remains on the periphery of the peace movement that is rising across the Continent. The Communists were the only major party supporting the protest, and President Franc,ois Mitterrand's ruling Socialists, who happened to be having their annual conference in Valence, made clear their support of the installation of the U.S. missiles.

In Britain, Labor Party Leader Michael Foot is bitterly opposed to the missiles; in West Germany, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's Social Democratic Party is badly split on the issue; but one of the startling paradoxes of European politics is that the French Socialists, with four Communists in their Cabinet, come closest to sharing the Reagan Administration's determination to improve defense. Indeed, U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig heartily praises "the whole array of what I call security-related French attitudes."

The first clear sign of Mitterrand's intentions on defense policy came last July, only two months after his inauguration, when he appeared at the Brittany naval base of Ile-Longue to announce plans to build a seventh nuclear submarine by 1990. The addition will enable the French navy's Strategic Ocean Force to keep three subs, each equipped with 16 multiple-warhead M-4 missiles, on high seas patrol at all times.

Mitterrand also endorsed plans to modernize the other two pillars of France's nuclear force de frappe, bombers and missiles. The plans call for equipping the country's 35 Mirage IV strategic bombers with air-to-ground missiles and studying a new, possibly mobile system for protecting its 18 land-based intermediate-range missiles. He also reversed a campaign pledge to reduce compulsory military service from twelve to six months. Last month Defense Minister Charles Hernu, 58, announced a 17.6% hike in the defense budget, to $22 billion. Discounted for inflation, the increase amounts to 3.6%, higher than that of any NATO member other than the U.S. (7%).

Like Reagan, Mitterrand is alarmed by the Soviet military buildup. Particularly worried about the deployment of an estimated 250 Soviet SS-20 missiles aimed at Western Europe, he roundly endorses the projected deployment of U.S. Pershing II and cruise missiles in West Germany and other NATO countries. He agrees with the U.S. decision to produce a neutron weapon, and has confirmed that France will continue to study the development of its own. On Poland, on Afghanistan, on the nature of the Soviet threat, Mitterrand has staked out positions more reassuring to Washington than those of former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing. He will be "vigilant," Mitterrand promised at his first press conference, to ensure that "by 1985 the Soviet Union and its allies do not have the means to allow them, in the space of a few instants, to dominate the world."

As pacifist sentiment spreads across the Continent, Mitterrand's attitude is comforting to some fellow Europeans. West Germany's Schmidt has found the French President's public support helpful in rejecting demands by the left wing of his Social Democratic Party that he renege on the 1979 NATO decision to base new U.S. medium-range missiles in Western Europe. In Britain, where anti-NATO feelings thrive in the Labor opposition, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government welcomes Mitterrand's position. "Such a firm stand is very helpful coming from a Socialist," a top official explains. "It enables us to point out to the left wing of the Labor Party that not all Socialists go along with unilateral disarmament."

Mitterrand's strong position has come as a surprise, mainly because his views on France's defense have not always been consistent during his 35-year political career. A confirmed "Atlanticist" who be lieved in having a common Western de fense, he voted against De Gaulle's development of an independent nuclear deterrent. The Common Program Mitter rand signed with the Communist Party in 1972 also rejected the force de frappe. Not until 1977 did Hernu, then a close adviser of Mitterrand's, persuade him that a nuclear force was a requisite for a modern state and that France's program was too far advanced to be scrapped.

But Mitterrand has no intention of changing France's unique relation ship with NATO: although an original member, it has retained an independent command over its military forces since 1966. Still, NATO planners have always assumed that the French would close ranks if war came. Indeed, Premier Pierre Mauroy pledges: "France intends to remain faithful to its allies, with the U.S. in the front row." Hernu argues that, ironically, France's withdrawal from the com mand structure of NATO, a move that gravely strained ties with the U.S., now makes France a stronger ally. "If France were fully inside NATO, Frenchmen might go to sleep, saying to themselves, 'Oh, well, the Americans are there with their nuclear umbrella. There is no point in our making a strong effort.' It is this sense of independence that gives the French the feeling that they are not neutral."

After a meeting with Hernu, U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger praised France for taking steps that "will enhance the security of our common alliance." Says Richard Perle, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy: "From the military point of view, we might wish we had a few more Mitter rand governments." The Soviets certainly do not agree. Pravda has expressed "bewilderment" at Mitterrand's support for U.S. defense policies.

With reporting by Jordan Bonfante

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