"Be Patient with Our Contradictions"

Giulio Andreotti, 63, a Christian Democrat who was Premier of Italy five times between 1972 and 1979, and who is now chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Chamber of Deputies:

To Ronald Reagan, on his first official visit to Europe, I would like to advise keeping well in mind that America's friends are those who do not care whether the President is a Republican or a Democrat. He should be wary of adulators and of those who, hoping to ingratiate themselves with him, will speak ill of his predecessor. He must also be patient with a contradiction that he will find circulating in Europe, and that can be found in other parts of the world as well: many people would like Washington to deal with everyone and everything, and to assume the burden of every crisis or international difficulty, but then they criticize the U.S. for interference in the affairs of other countries every time it takes a position.

On the main questions that President Reagan will discuss, I have a few observations:

1) East-West Relations. I know that there is widespread American hostility, or at least indifference, to the 1975 Helsinki accords [which, among other things, recognized Soviet domination over Eastern Europe]. That is a grave mistake, at least from two points of view. Including the U.S. and Canada in talks among European nations is an asset of enormous value. And in my opinion there is no other way gradually to relax the opposing European blocs and to involve individual Eastern European states in a direct and autonomous dialogue with the West.

2) North-South Dialogue. Many developing countries have reacted negatively to the U.S.'s failure to join some Western European nations in supporting Third World demands at the United Nations for a new international economic order and for more aid. These reactions have overshadowed the extremely relevant effort undertaken for so long by the U.S. President Reagan should bravely continue along the line set out at Cancun [where he met 14 leaders from developing and industrialized nations last October] and propose a compromise that would involve the U.S. and Western Europe in the dialogue between rich and poor nations.

3) The Middle East. Italy has openly defended the Camp David agreements. But Camp David cannot be only a separate peace between Egypt and Israel, postponing a response to the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. Time is not on the side of peace in that area. Peace must be promoted without delay and with vigor along the line strongly supported in the Inter-Parliamentary Union [an association of parliamentarians from around the world]: reciprocal and simultaneous recognition between the state of Israel and Palestinian representatives. Anyone who objects to Palestinian representatives may one day find it impossible to have a dialogue with anyone, and may then regret the lost opportunity.

My meeting with Governor Reagan in 1972 left me with a favorable impression. I had never before met a person who, if he was not knowledgeable on a subject, said so explicitly, without hiding behind phrases devoid of content. President Reagan should maintain this habit and oblige his fellow leaders to be precise and concrete.

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