A Most Exclusive Club

By George Russell

Reagan's European trip ends with a show of harmony and a shower of words

There was plenty of pomp and cordiality, all part of the now familiar ritual of summitry. Of substance, there was much less to record. Open disharmony was almost unthinkable, leaving little to disturb the elevated camaraderie that dominated three days of meetings as the leaders of the major non-Communist industrialized nations (the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada) gathered last week for their tenth annual economic summit meeting. .The sessions at London's pillared, flag-bedecked Lancaster House were just the kind of success that the host, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, had hoped they would be. "Blessed is he that expecteth nothing," she had intoned at a pre-summit press conference. "For he shall not be disappointed."

For Ronald Reagan, that blessed nothing was still quite something. As Thatcher also emphasized, the London meeting was not intended as a "crisis summit" but as a session aimed at nurturing global economic recovery. From Washington's point of view, the London meeting might have been dubbed the Re-Election Summit. It capped a ten-day presidential tour that began with Reagan's nostalgic visit to ancestral soil in Ireland and continued with a highly photogenic appearance on the beaches of Normandy for the 40th anniversary of the D-day landings (see following story).

Minor political discomforts sprang up along the way, notably a few vociferous objections in Ireland to the Administration's policies in Central America. But throughout the trip, Reagan stressed the themes that are central to his re-election campaign and that he hoped to impress upon his fellow leaders. Chief among them: that after nearly four years of Reagan's leadership, the world is firmly headed for "peace and prosperity."

Outside the amiable confines of Lancaster House, there were plenty of international issues to occupy the seven leaders' attention. One was the Iran-Iraq war, even if the fear of a closure of the Persian Gulf had momentarily abated. The West Europeans, Canadians and Japanese expressed concern over the unprecedented U.S. budget deficit and rising U.S. interest rates. Privately, all the leaders except Reagan are worried that U.S. economic conditions could abort international economic recovery and add to the dangers posed by the Third World's towering debt. The West Europeans also had to weigh their actions at the summit carefully in view of this week's elections for the European Parliament. Above all, there was the deplorable state of East-West relations, epitomized by the Soviet boycott of the Los Angeles Olympics and the surly and frustrated utterances that emerged from the Kremlin almost daily.

Reagan raised the East-West issue at nearly every opportunity. In Dublin, he gave a new answer to a longstanding Soviet proposal that the superpowers sign a pledge not to use force to settle international disputes. In the past, the U.S. has dismissed the idea as meaningless, since the notion is already embodied in the Charter of the United Nations. Reagan told the Irish parliament that "if discussions on reaffirming the principle .. . will bring the Soviet Union to negotiate agreements which will give concrete new meaning to that principle, we will gladly enter into such discussions." The President also declared that he was "prepared to halt, and even reverse" the deployment of U.S.-built intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe if the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. could reach a satisfactory arms-control agreement. Those offers were quickly dismissed by the official Soviet news agency TASS as "glib" and "hypocritical." On the Normandy beachhead, Reagan tried again. Said he: "There is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union."

The President's statements were intended to smother some of the prospects for discord at the summit, and they succeeded. Few of the issues that should have divided the seven leaders were allowed to disturb the tone of the meeting, even though, as the gathering concluded, about 150,000 antinuclear demonstrators marched in London to protest the presence of both Reagan and U.S.-built cruise missiles in Britain. By the end of the meeting, the leaders had summed up their deliberations in a blizzard of generally inoffensive documents: an economic communique, a "Declaration on Democratic Values," a statement on East-West relations and arms control, and a pledge to coordinate action against international terrorism. In addition, Summit Host Thatcher, with the backing of the other leaders, issued a call for peaceful settlement of the Iran-Iraq war. If the various declarations ended up reading as if they had been written by a committee, it was because they had been. The seven leaders and their aides labored endlessly, fine-tuning each clause so that, in the end, they could all go home proclaiming that their policies had won the imprimatur of the world's most exclusive club.

Thatcher read the 17-point economic communique on Saturday at the City of London's 600-year-old Guildhall. Acknowledging that the West's economies were recovering, the document called for measures that would both create new jobs and spread the benefits of growth. It noted with concern "the growing strain of public expenditure in all our countries," a favorite Reagan and Thatcher theme, but also stressed the need for job creation and training programs. In an oblique criticism of U.S. policy, the communique said that high interest rates were making it more difficult for heavily indebted Third World nations to meet their obligations. Among ten specific points of agreement were 1) the need to reduce budget deficits "where necessary," 2) the urgency of helping poorer countries develop industries, 3) the fact that the Third World debt should be addressed on a case-by-case basis, and 4) endorsement of unspecified moves to stabilize the international financial system. Said Thatcher: "So you see, we have not been idle during the last two days."

The Declaration on Democratic Values, which was Thatcher's idea, affirmed the rule of law, restated "our determination to fight hunger and poverty throughout the world" and declared that "international problems and conflicts can and must be resolved through reasoned dialogue and negotiation."

The four-paragraph statement on East-West relations was equally vague. It said that "the first need is for solidarity and resolve among us all." It then stated a determination "to pursue the search for extended political dialogue and long-term cooperation with the Soviet Union and her allies." Noting that the U.S. "has offered to restart nuclear-arms-control talks anywhere, at any tune, without preconditions," it expressed the hope that the Soviet Union "will act in a constructive and positive way."

Recalling Britain's experience when a policewoman was shot and killed from a window of the Libyan embassy last April, Thatcher also pressed for the statement on terrorism. Among other things, it called for consultation and "as far as possible cooperation" in dealing with known terrorists. Privately, summit officials explained that too much publicity would limit the effectiveness of any antiterrorist campaign. They hinted that the leaders had agreed to intelligence activities that were not spelled out in the statement.

Behind that bland language was a tacit assumption of the summit: nothing should occur to inconvenience a leader seeking reelection. That axiom certainly guided Reagan's image makers during his entire European visit. Wherever he went, Reagan treated audiences to large doses of his fabled charm. He met his first challenge at University College in Galway, Ireland, a self-designated nuclear-free zone. While the President stood garbed in a scarlet-and-purple academic gown, preparing to receive an honorary doctor of laws degree, some 2,000 faculty, students and other protesters staged a demonstration about half a mile away. Unperturbed, Reagan displayed his own gift for Irish gab, mixing praise for Irish literature and culture with applause for efforts to find a peaceful solution to the sectarian strife in neighboring Northern Ireland.

Implicitly responding to European fears that he is trigger-happy, Reagan charged the Soviet Union with mounting "a strong and aggressive military machine that prohibits fundamental freedoms." Then he softened his remarks by declaring that "we seek negotiations with the Soviet Union, but unfortunately we face an empty chair." Reagan's speech was cut short by an unexpected spring hailstorm (immediately dubbed "hail to the chief); he and Nancy soon retired to the comfort of Ashford Castle, a 78-bedroom French-style chateau set on 500 wooded acres in County Mayo.

The heavy hand of White House public relations was all over Ballyporeen (pop. 350), the Tipperary town where the President's great-grandfather Michael Regan (as the name was then spelled) was christened on Sept. 3, 1829. A crowd of 3,000, including 1,800 members of the press and 1,000 security men, jammed the street in front of the O'Farrell Pub, now known as the Ronald Reagan Lounge. In side O'Farrell's, White House aides moved the wives of three patrons out of camera range. The reason: Washington's image of a traditional, tweedy Irish pub contained fewer women. Even Reagan seemed unusually wooden as he raised a glass in O'Farrell's with Nancy.

That evening, at a state dinner in Dublin Castle, East-West politics once again came to the fore. In his welcoming toast, Irish Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald declared that "there is an absolute need for dialogue between the superpowers, for the reopening of channels of communication that have become clogged." He also called attention to the President's Central American policies, saying that the Irish want that region's problems "to be resolved peacefully, by the people of the region themselves." Irish feelings about Central America have been aroused by numerous reports from Irish missionaries in the region, most of whom are highly critical of Washington's policy.

Reagan returned to his unaffected best on Monday as he became the second U.S. President (after John F. Kennedy in 1963) to address a joint session of the Irish parliament. While some 5,000 demonstrators snaked through the streets, Reagan made his nonuse-of-force offer to the Soviets. The President remained unfazed as three Irish legislators stalked out of the chamber to pro test U.S. policies in El Salvador. Reagan declared that "all the U.S. is trying to do is give the Salvadorans the chance they want for democratic self-determination -- without outside interference."

After Reagan's speech, White House aides emphasized that the no-use-of-force offer marked a change in U.S. policy. They said that the "concrete" agreements that the Administration is willing to discuss with Moscow involved such things as the mutual reporting of military maneuvers and the exchange of information on the size and composition of military forces.

Leaving Ireland Monday afternoon, Reagan was greeted by Britain's Thatcher in the Orangery at Kensington Palace, the home of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The following day the Reagans had what White House officials described as "a relaxed family lunch" with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace. Whenever the Queen and the President get together, Nancy Reagan's press secretary said, they "inevitably talk about horses."

Tuesday evening, Reagan and Thatcher met privately for 70 minutes at 10 Downing Street, where they then dined with senior government officials. East-West relations dominated the private discussion there too. The two leaders shared the view that the Soviets are frustrated because their system has failed to provide better economic opportunities for their people. On the question of how to handle the Soviets, Thatcher and Reagan agreed, according to an American official present at dinner, that "we can make clear that we remain ready to solve problems, and try to get as much increase in exchanges--diplomatically as well as in terms of people going back and forth -- as possible." Thatcher asked Reagan about his chances for reelection. The President's answer: he expected it would be a tough campaign.

The summiteering began in earnest upon Reagan's return to London from Wednesday's Normandy ceremonies. Thursday morning, the President held a series of 35-minute bilateral meetings at Winfield House, the U.S. Ambassador's residence, with his other major summit partners. The meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone included a general discussion of cooperation in the event of a Persian Gulf oil crisis. According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, the two leaders agreed that "some type of sharing, some type of contingency planning" should ensue. After the meet Regan declared that U.S. interest rates were "trending down," despite the fact that the previous day, the outgoing of the President's Council Economic Advisers, Martin Feldstein, had shocked White House staffers by predicting the opposite.

The summit leaders, along with European Commission President Gaston Thorn, held their first working session together Thursday evening during a dinner at London's St. James's Palace, an octagonal-turreted brick structure built for King Henry VIII. Seated in the Armoury, a second-story room lined with muskets, swords, pikes and other antique weaponry, the summiteers listened as Thatcher broached her notion of the political communique on democratic values. Thatcher felt strongly about the idea. "The Brits are treating this like it's the Magna Carta," said a U.S. official.

The French traditionally oppose political statements at economic summits, but President Franc,ois Mitterrand agreed to go along. At first, the U.S. wanted the declaration to include a commentary on East-West relations. The idea was dropped after the French objected, and the U.S. proposed the idea of a separate East-West statement. Then summit aides labored until 3 a.m. to produce a draft wording for the Thatcher-inspired values document.

The next day the summit leaders scrutinized the seven paragraphs of the values statement for a full hour and 15 minutes. The socialist French and the conservative British, for example, debated at length over a draft statement that said political and economic freedom are fundamentally interdependent.

At the Friday morning session in Lancaster House, Prime Minister Thatcher set a businesslike tone. Predicting a "great measure of common understanding and agreement" at the summit, she then ticked off a list of conservative economic positions as the basis of unity for the leaders. Among them: that a strategy of economic recovery based on public-sector restraint and limited monetary growth "is the right one, and we intend to stick to it." Thatcher tossed in a plug for one of her favorite topics, "adapting our societies to an unprecedented pace of technological change."

During their deliberations, the summit leaders were forced to give close attention to the international debt issue. All seven heads of government had received a letter from seven major debtor countries (Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil) expressing "anxiety," in the words of a British official, and the hope that the debt discussion be given "the right priority." The summit finally came up with a plan that a senior U.S. official said would "reward" debtors who are making "successful efforts to improve their position." The plan includes the notion of extending and improving the terms of debt repayment where local efforts at austerity are being made.

The debt issue also led to the most serious strains of the meeting, when French President Mitterrand declared that "there can be no serious treatment of the debt problem without a lowering of real interest rates." That in turn paved the way for discussion of the U.S. budget deficit. Later, U.S. Treasury Secretary Regan refused to acknowledge a link between the deficit and high interest rates. The outcome in the communique was a declaration that high interest rates could threaten recovery, and a call for "prudent monetary and budgetary policies."

The meeting showed how far the concept of summitry has come--or gone--in a decade. The first economic summit took place in November 1975, when French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing came up with the idea of gathering fellow leaders literally around a fireside in the secluded French chateau of Rambouillet. The only press suite was in the Hotel George V in Paris, about 25 miles away. Something tangible was accomplished: an agreement to change the articles of the International Monetary Fund to accommodate a new economic world of floating exchange rates. Since then, there has been a steady escalation in pomp and politics as successive hosts have tried to use the meetings to serve their political ends.

Last week's costly extravaganza, swollen with hordes of simultaneous translators, government aides and journalists, managed to affirm Western solidarity, and it certainly did no harm to Ronald Reagan's chances for reelection. But for all its lofty declarations, it made little progress in finding solutions to the pressing problems the world's major industrial nations face.

--By George Russell.

Reported by Bonnie Angela/London and Douglas Brew with the President

With reporting by Bonnie Angela, Douglas Brew