Finally, a Timetable

Addressing the country directly for the first time since he announced the death of Generalissimo Francisco Franco last November, Premier Carlos Arias Navarro went on television last week to present Spain with a timetable for reform. Nervously reading a 45-minute text, Arias, 67, announced that a national referendum on proposed constitutional changes would be held in October and that Spain's first general elections in almost 41 years would follow early next year. Lest anyone mistake these cautious moves as promises of a sharp break with the authoritarian past, Arias added several stanzas of effusive praise of Franco, whom he described as "the veteran captain who led us to the purest of victories."

The proposals Arias announced included 1) creation of a legislature that would give Spain a lower house elected by "universal, equal, direct and secret suffrage" and an upper house composed mainly of appointed members; 2) establishment of a new branch of the Supreme Court that would be specifically charged with protecting constitutional rights; 3) a revision in the law of succession that would reduce the minimum age for becoming a monarch from 33 to 18 and allow a woman to wear the crown. By including the succession proposals in the referendum, the regime hopes to win a kind of popular assent to the monarchy without actually subjecting the institution to the perils of a direct yes or no vote.

The timetable for the reforms represented a political setback for King Juan Carlos, 38, who, with the support of a few Cabinet officers and Spain's increasingly impatient press, had urged that the referendum be held in June and the election this fall. Repeatedly frustrated in his desire for a faster pace of liberalization, the King is known to be unhappy with Arias' reluctance to push ahead. But his power is severely circumscribed by the hard-line Francistas in the 17-member Council of the Realm, a group of loyalists created by Franco to approve candidates for the premiership.

Labor Unrest. With such Franco-era institutions still firmly entrenched, opposition leaders of all persuasions were saying last week that they will not cooperate by playing democratic charades in October. Christian Democrat Jose Maria Gil Robles acidly characterized Arias' speech as "a chat full of platitudes and vagueness." One member of the Communist Party's Central Committee angrily dismissed it as a "cynical joke." The regime hoped that the announcement of elections might at least serve to cool down the current labor unrest in Spain, but as Arias spoke at midweek, some 30,000 construction workers went on strike in Madrid. The day after the Premier's address, more than 100,000 workers walked off the job, promising more rather than less labor commotion in the future.

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