Looking at the Future, Not the Past

Before his visit to Washington, Felipe Gonzalez speaks his mind

If a conservative tide is running in some parts of Europe, Spain certainly is bucking it. For the first time since the Civil War, Socialists are in power, having trounced a collapsing center and a regrouping right in national elections in October. Last month their popularity was confirmed in municipal elections, to the delight of Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, who likes to say that "Spain is calm, calmer than at any time since the death of General Franco." The political honeymoon still lasts, and when the boyish 41-year-old Socialist leader flies to Washington next week on his first official visit to the U.S., he will inevitably reflect the buoyant national mood. For Spaniards, Gonzalez is, above all, living proof that after only five years of self-conscious democracy, Spain can elect a Socialist government without a national upheaval or a military coup. Holding a solid majority in both houses of the Cortes, the Socialists have moreover steered a reassuringly moderate course in economic policy. Separatist Basque terrorism remains a serious problem but appears to be on the decline.

With a 12% inflation rate and unemployment at a punishing 17%, Spain is by no means without difficulties. But at every turn, Gonzalez has made it clear that he does not intend to impose rash solutions. For example, he has not considered nationalizing anything more than the country's electric grid system. Nor has he been tempted to push for an expansionary economic policy along the lines of the French Socialists during their first year in power.

In foreign affairs, Gonzalez has been remarkably discreet on the contentious issue of Spain's membership in NATO, which remains frozen, even though Spain's Foreign and Defense Ministers have been attending alliance meetings over the past two weeks. The most conspicuous diplomatic departure has been the Socialists' emphasis on Latin America and what the government calls the "historic Hispanic link." Accordingly, Gonzalez has paid increasing attention to strife-torn Central America, where his views diverge sharply from those of the Reagan Administration. During an eight-day tour of the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Mexico earlier this month, Gonzalez repeatedly criticized U.S. policy in the area for what he regards as its overly military-oriented approach.

Last week, seated in a cramped but elegantly furnished office in the Cortes, Gonzalez gave a wide-ranging interview to TIME'S Paris bureau chief, Jordan Bonfante, and Jane Walker. Excerpts:

On Spain's mood. There is a certain dose of optimism in the country based more on realism than on false expectations. At the risk of some unpopularity, the government has carried out a policy of dealing with real problems, even with a certain amount of harshness. Our devaluation of the peseta and the increase in gasoline prices are examples. This approach has not been unpopular. Quite the contrary: what would be unpopular would be to tell the country the opposite of what is really happening.

On the economy. We are beginning to win the battle against inflation. Our target of 12% this year is going to be met, and we could even go below that. But we must be careful not to punish business profits because wage increases are going to be above 12%. I am confident that next year we can come to an agreement with unions and industry on a target increase of 8%. We are also managing to stem unemployment, but this is probably due less to the merits of the government than to the fact that the industrial crisis has touched bottom. I think that the way the peseta has been holding its own in relation to other European currencies is reassuring. I'm not referring obviously to the dollar, which is going through the clouds. We have made great efforts to contain the budget deficit, which gives us hope from the macroeconomic point of view.

However, we still have to perform the most difficult task: a basic overhaul of the economy based on industrial restructuring and reforms in the social security system. As for comparisons between the French and Spanish Socialist governments, there are quite a lot of differences. The change in France, with a solidly consolidated democracy, signified an alternation between left and right. In Spain, the most important thing was that it affirmed an alternation of power in democracy. Most important, in Spain it represents a generational change. The government has an average age that places it in the post-Civil War generation. This is a sign of popular aspiration: the Spanish people wants to project itself more into the future than the past.

On Spanish expectations. We have introduced a university reform plan, and there were some protests, but nothing on the scale of the protests in France. In this respect I think that Spanish society has a greater intellectual virginity. The citizens want the problems solved in general, but they have no preconceived notion of how they should be solved. They just want them solved.

On Spanish membership in NATO. It has always seemed to me that it is unnecessary for Spain to belong to NATO. It's not good for our country or advisable from a global viewpoint.

That is why I support the status quo as it was a year and a half ago [before Spain joined NATO]. That does not mean that Spain will not assume its share of responsibility in Western defense, because we continue to have a bilateral [base] agreement with the U.S. There will be a referendum [on NATO] when we have completed our determination of our national needs, and when the international climate is such that the [EastWest] balance would not be upset.

On Central America. Either the U.S. must have a strategy for the year 2000 or we run the grave risk of living through explosions of right-or left-wing authoritarianism. This requires that the weight of the U.S. must have a positive rather than a negative character. The Americans can say that the Panama Canal is vital to U.S. [security], and no one is going to argue with them. However, for the Panamanian or the Costa Rican in the street that does not justify the price of hegemonic domination by national oligarchies. One cannot say that what is happening in Central America is a fight between Communism and democracy because the Somozas ruled for 40 years, with very good friends in the U.S.

In the face of the warlike Nicaragua-Honduras tension and of the dramatic internal situation in El Salvador, one must try for a dialogue of peace. Peace is not going to solve all the problems, but it is a sine qua non for resolving them. Following pacification, there must be support for pluralism and for elections. Finally, even this will be insufficient without social justice. It is a plan that should be developed and supported by all the countries of the region, by Western Europe and by the U.S. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.