Parliamentary Assembly

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

On the first question, I can say that our contacts with the governments of the nine countries have been very successful and very encouraging for us. We have contacted all the governments of the Europe of the Nine. They told us they accepted our request for accession and encouraged us to present it formally, which we have done. But we cannot help seeing that there are difficulties; in the first place, the difficulty of harmonising our various policies with Community policy. But these are not insuperable.

In the second place, there are difficulties which stem from the Community’s own difficulties, to which Mr Valleix referred, in expanding from six to nine countries. And there are other countries knocking at its door, which in our view, should be admitted. But obviously we have to face the fact that in becoming larger the Community risks losing some of its substance. That is a challenge that the Community countries and the Community itself must meet. But the Community should regard it from a positive angle, for it proves that countries want to join and are knocking at the door. So I think the Community’s own problems will be solved too.

As regards how long we think our integration will take, in the first place, we have asked for our case to be judged on its own. We do not believe in lumping all such cases together. Some day perhaps, and we hope it will be soon, Spain may be in a position to seek accession, and perhaps, as Mr Valleix said, Turkey too. Greece is at the moment in a somewhat difficult position, as you know. But Portugal’s democratic institutions are complete; we are both politically and economically ready to join the Community. So we have asked for our case, Portugal’s case, to be considered by itself. That is why we have presented our request for accession.

A committee has been set up to study the problems of harmonising the different policies and giving an opinion. It has to do so by the end of this year. The negotiations for Portugal’s accession will, we reckon, when they open, take two years. At the end of those two years, we shall be able to join the Community as a full member, but we shall obviously ask for a five-year transition period as Britain did. That is how long we think it will take.

We are very optimistic about the approaches we have so far made to the Community.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

As I said in my initial statement, I consider détente to be indivisible. I called attention to the problems arising in other continents, such as Africa, America, particularly Latin America, and Asia. For a great many reasons, I think Mediterranean problems are enormously important for peace and security in Europe. Portugal is not a Mediterranean country, but it has sometimes been grouped with Mediterranean countries, which have always consulted it because they think that in view of our geographical position near the Western entrance to the Mediterranean our country is involved in these problems.

We are quite ready to study the matter and to enter into negotiations to establish harmonious relations between the non-European and the European Mediterranean countries.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

Portugal is indeed faced with two types of difficulty; in the first place economic and structural difficulties, which stem from the transformation of our national life. We have gone in for decolonisation and have granted independence to all our colonies. As a result, we have lost markets and sources of raw materials and foreign currency. So we have to reorganise our economic life. We also have short-term economic difficulties (they are not peculiar to Portugal; many countries have them) especially in relation to the deficit in our balance of payments. But we foresee getting rid of that deficit in four years’ time.

In order to apply an economic policy that will reduce this deficit, a loan, medium-term financial aid, is essential. We have applied to various European countries and to North America, the United States in particular. Because the Portuguese problem and Portuguese difficulties are not those of our country alone but could have repercussions on other countries, since without economic stability there will be no democracy in Portugal, and if Portugal’s democracy is threatened it may have a very serious effect on other countries, especially on Spain and the countries of southern Europe, President Carter has taken the initiative in asking for special aid not only from Europe, but also from other industrialised countries such as Canada and Japan, for the purpose of setting up a kind of consortium to provide special financial aid to Portugal. We are at this moment in the process of studying and discussing this possibility with our partners.

Regarding the private investment Mr Radius mentioned, we do indeed need foreign investment. In order to attract it we have published a code of rules for foreign investment which provides guarantees for the investors. Up to now, it has been considered entirely satisfactory by the various countries interested in the matter.

Some of the Ministers in our constitutional government and I have had discussions with investors from different countries interested in Portugal. Among others, I have had very extensive contacts with investors from Germany, America, Britain and other countries. Every time, we have provided explicit guarantees for these investments. And contrary to what you seem to think there is a renewal of confidence in the stability of our institutions. That is why new capital is now being invested in Portugal. Similarly, tourism has increased considerably this year, and the Portuguese workers, who were very careful in 1975 and 1976 not to send their savings back to Portugal, no longer hesitate to do so.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

As regards Mr Coutsocheras’s first question, we are trying to be realists. We know what kind of world we live in. Of course, during the fascist period, we felt rather bitter about the democracies, which claimed to protect human rights and the liberty of the individual while doing nothing about the outrages committed daily in Portugal, in Spain and in the Greece of the Colonels. But I repeat, we are realists, and we know what the world is like. We do not consider being bitter to be very constructive. In addition, we believe that every country has its own forces for defending its human rights and freedoms, and that it is not good to expect help from outside. We believe the best thing is to rely on the strength and energy of one’s own people. That is why we are proud of having been able to free ourselves from fascism by our own efforts.

Everyone, in the East as well as in the West, was very surprised by the revolution of 25 April, which was carried out by the Portuguese alone without any outside help. In 1975, when the threat of communism reared its head in Portugal, we also had the good fortune to find the Portuguese people rising against it and imposing freedom on Portugal without, I repeat, any help from outside.

We certainly received many messages of sympathy and understanding, even of respect and solidarity, from all over the world, in particular from the progressive movements and the democratic parties. That solidarity and some of that support gave us pleasure.

Replying to Mr Coutsocheras’s second question, we do indeed believe that any violation of human rights in whatever country it occurs injures those who are fighting for freedom and democracy in their own country. But at the same time, we must avoid the tendency to submit international relations, which are complex, to a kind of perpetual moral judgement.

We shall soon be meeting in Belgrade. Rather than wishing to pronounce judgement there on those who do not respect human rights, would it not be better, even if we know quite well that they are not respecting them, to seek for solutions that can promote peace in the world?

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

I will reply first about the colonies. We did what decolonisation was possible, and I must say we did it rapidly and courageously. We acted as we did because our decolonisation was carried out twenty or thirty years late. The situation in the colonies had become very bad, and everything that is going on in the ex-Portuguese colonies now become independent sovereign states can in part be explained by that late decolonisation.

Now we have cut the colonial link which existed before and are seeking relations of equality and mutual respect between the independent Portuguese-speaking African countries and Portugal. It is not always easy, and we have met with certain difficulties, but Portugal’s cooperation with these new countries – for example with Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands – is encouraging and progressing well.

You know the difficulties we have about Mozambique and Angola, but we are making a great effort to improve our relations with these peoples by not interfering in their internal policy and by respecting their options on a basis of equality and mutual respect. I think these relations are improving in spite of the difficulties.

My answer to the second question must be that the Socialist Party, the governing party, is in, a minority. It represents about 35% of the votes cast. But in the present Portuguese parliamentary context there is no possibility of any great change because, under the Portuguese Constitution, the government must first of all have the confidence of the President of the Republic, who is elected by the people by direct universal suffrage, and secondly be given a mandate by the Assembly. We have in fact the confidence of the President of the Republic who appointed us, and we have been given a mandate by the Assembly. Up to now, although we are a minority government, there has been no vote of “no confidence” against us, and we find no great parliamentary difficulty in governing. After a full-dress debate on general policy, we had no difficulty in getting our plan and the budget adopted at the end of the year. When we were given our mandate some parties abstained, but none voted against us. At one moment questions were raised in parliament about our general policy, but at the end there was no vote of “no confidence”. So we have this sort of tacit approval by the Assembly and the confidence of the President of the Republic, and we can certainly continue to govern with confidence and in peace of mind.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

I quite understand Mr Pires’s putting his question to me in French. I have to speak French too. Of course he is right, there are 130 million human beings in the world now who speak Portuguese, since Portuguese is spoken not only in Portugal, but also in Brazil and in the former Portuguese colonies. It is the common language there.

So far as sincerity is concerned, I do not think that, in politics, there should be too much discussion of subjective questions. Sincerity or no sincerity, what matters is results, and it is even best not to have a lot of discussion about these subjective motives, but just to consider statements and attitudes because that can be helpful.

Regarding complicity by the communist countries when Portugal was under threat of communism, I have had a great deal to say about that, as you may well understand. Just after the Helsinki Conference, a conference of socialists and social democrats from all over Europe, including the heads of delegations to the Helsinki Conference, was held in Stockholm to discuss the protection of democracy in Portugal.

I asked them what they thought of the Final Act they had just signed and whether, if the communists seized power in Portugal by non-democratic means, that would jeopardise the Act that had just been signed in Helsinki. They all replied that they had put this same point to the Eastern European countries, and that for them Portugal was a test case. A seizure of power in Portugal by the communists by antidemocratic means would be a terrible warning to Europe as a whole.

I do not think there is any proof of direct interference by the East European countries in Portuguese affairs. In any case, as Mr Pires knows, we maintain diplomatic relations with all the East European countries except Albania.

Regarding attendance at the Belgrade Conference, the matter is now being considered. If most countries decide to send parliamentary delegations to that conference, we Portuguese have no objection whatever. But obviously for the sake of efficiency the question will have to be settled in advance. As a matter of fact, we are among those who do not think Belgrade should be a forum for propaganda by either side. On the contrary, we think it should be a meeting-place where concrete steps can be taken towards peace and security in Europe.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

Concerning refugees, not only from Angola but also from Mozambique, I must reply that they have been one of the biggest problems we have had to deal with during the last year, because quite suddenly rather more than half a million people from Africa – Angola, Mozambique and other colonies – arrived in Portugal without money or possessions, practically destitute.

We had to put these people up and find work for them, give them money for themselves and their families to live on, and find them housing. As you can imagine, that was very difficult. It might have been thought at the beginning that these people would have provided a weapon for the extreme right in the country, because they arrived in Portugal after a somewhat traumatic experience, due to decolonisation and in particular to the conditions in which it was carried out. Fortunately, I can say today that we have been able to settle and absorb almost all these refugees, who are now working, and that many of them are even helping the country to progress and develop. We have devoted considerable sums in our budget to helping these refugees, who get an allowance which is larger than unemployment benefit and of an exceptional nature, because of the drama they have lived through.

We have also had proof of a great deal of international solidarity with regard to these refugees. Various countries, particularly the Federal Republic of Germany, helped us to transport the refugees by setting up an air bridge. Many other countries provided financial aid, the Scandinavian countries in particular, to help the refugees in every way.

I must add, however, that we are facing another and perhaps rather more complicated problem. Some of the people who opted for Angolan or Mozambique nationality when these countries became independent now also want to take refuge in Portugal. That is a matter that we have to bring before the international authorities.

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking the European countries and the United States, as well as some of the Eastern European states including the Soviet Union, for their help, and in so doing to lay stress on all the positive things the international community has done.

Contrary to what happened in France after the end of the war in Algeria, this flood of refugees has fortunately not changed the political climate in Portugal.

So far as Spain is concerned, we had an official visit from Mr Suarez about two months ago, which went very well. We are hopeful and confident that Spain will develop in a democratic direction and we are completely convinced that the present Spanish Government, and in particular Mr Suarez, is determined to break with Francoism and to return to democracy.

But there are still a great many problems to be solved, in the first place because the old fascist machine remains intact in Spain. In Portugal, the political police were abolished after the revolution. Up to a point, the people most responsible for the past have left the country or retired from public life. But that is not the case in Spain, where the machinery of oppression remains intact and no one knows how it will react when the decisive moment for a break comes.

Spain is now preparing for elections, but they will take place in a framework fixed by the government. The Chamber to be elected will not yet be a constituent one. This means that the laws, and the Constitution as it stands, have been granted to the country by the government, but have not been voted for by the people, and will not be in the immediate future. So I can just imagine all the contradictory situations that will be able to persist in these circumstances.

It is my sincere wish and hope that the good sense of which the Suarez Government has given proof will prevail and that Spain will travel along a peaceful road to democracy.

The Spaniards acknowledge that Portugal’s experience has been of great help in the liberation of Spain, first in a negative sense, because Mr Suarez has no wish to be another Caetano, knowing the results of that, but also in a positive sense, because some developments and contradictions in the Portuguese situation are being carefully avoided by the Spanish opposition, including the Spanish Communist Party, which insists that it is Eurocommunist and in favour of political democracy.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

I am grateful to Mr Stavropoulos for giving me an opportunity to explain my point.

I did indeed say words to that effect. I am as much opposed to the grouping of applications as he is, and what is more, Article 237 of the Rome Treaty is quite explicit on the subject: each country has to state its own case.

I know that for Greece the process of entry into the EEC is well advanced and I am glad, because I consider myself a friend of the Greek people. Naturally there will be difficulties as in the case of every other country, but I am sure that Greece with its creative spirit can overcome them.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

We have not discussed the matter with them because, just as we do not wish to interfere in the internal affairs of the Portuguese-speaking African countries, neither, obviously, do we wish them to interfere with what we decide to do. But we have informed all the Portuguese-speaking African countries of our decision and of how our negotiations with the Community are being carried out.

As Mr Machete perhaps knows, some countries – Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands – are very interested in these negotiations because they are associated with the Community through the Lomé Convention.

May I take this opportunity of thanking him for his greeting on behalf of the opposition parties.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

I do not think there is any immediate danger of a renewal of that attempt, because the threat from the Communist Party was due to what was known at that time as the Armed Forces Movement. At one point they were in the majority in the leadership of that Movement and were turning it in a certain direction. It was through the military that they were able to intervene and to become a threat by creating social unrest in business firms and by taking over the mass media, including radio and television. Now the military situation is quite different, particularly since the defeat of the Armed Forces Movement on 25 November, when the army was taken over again by a team of democratic officers.

Two days ago, we celebrated in two ways, both symbolic, the third anniversary of the April revolution. First of all there was a grand military parade in Lisbon in the Avenida da Liberdade. The Portuguese troops filed past the President of the Republic, who was an army man himself but had been elected by the Portuguese by a very large majority, and past the President of the National Assembly and the government. This means that the organs of sovereignty are in place and that they are respected and obeyed by the army.

The Portuguese army now sees itself as supporting the Constitution and the democratic regime in Portugal. It recognises that the army owes obedience to the representative civil authority. So for the present, and for the future too I believe, we have representative institutions that work and an army that sees itself as reorganised, obedient to civil authority and a respecter of the Constitution. It even sees itself as the guarantor of democracy and national independence, as everywhere else in democratic Europe.

But if the economic position is not good, if the difficulties we are now meeting with (which are great, as I said just now) get worse, if there is inflation which the government cannot control and social unrest in the streets because of the rise in the cost of living, those who want to transform Portugal into a totalitarian state will be given another chance to return and become a threat.

Unfortunately, I do not believe that the Portuguese Communist Party – I say this quite frankly without any wish to be controversial; I am merely saying what I think – has become a convert to democracy. At the Madrid summit, it was not among the Eurocommunist Parties that intend to work within the institutional framework of political democracy. If we read the Portuguese Communist Party’s official documents, which have not, in fact, changed since 1941, we see that the same Leninist idea of an active minority taking power is still the central theme, and that formal statements of respect for democracy are simply tactics. They do not represent a fundamental change of heart, as they do in other Communist Parties in Western Europe.

Mr Soares, Prime Minister of Portugal (translation)

Thank you, Mr President.