THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 18 JUNE 1975

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006014827
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: June 18, 1975

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The President's Daily Brief
June 18, 1975
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category 5B(I).(2),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
June 18, 1975
Table of Contents
Israel-Egypt: The Israeli cabinet announced it is
ready to make concessions if Egypt does the
same. (Page 1)
Italy: The returns from provincial and municipal
elections confirm the marked turn to the left.
(Page 2)
Cuba: Fidel Castro has signaled that he is ready
to begin the process of normalizing relations
with the US. (Page 4)
Portugal: The imbroglio over control of the So-
cialist Party's newspaper remains unresolved.
(Page 6)
Spain
(eage d)
Lebanon: Syrian Foreign Minister Khaddam is in
Beirut to join consultations on the formation
of a Lebanese cabinet. (Page 9)
Laos:
Notes: Turkey; Portugal-Romania; Chile (Page 11)
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ISRAEL-EGYPT
The Israeli cabinet yesterday de-
clared that it is ready to make further
concessions to.achieve an agreement with
Egypt, provided Cairo does the same.
Apparently responding to the Israeli announce-
ment, Egyptian officials indicated that they are
"moderately optimistic" about the prospects for dis-
engagement and hinted publicly for the first time
that Cairo might be flexible on the duration of an
agreement. In the aborted negotiations last March,
Egyptian insistence on yearly review of the UN peace-
keeping mandate was a serious stumbling block.
The Egyptian officials, however, cautioned
that any agreement would have to be part of an over-
all settlement and indicated that they are still
awaiting the results of the US policy reassessment
before deciding on the advisability of proceeding
with disengagement talks.
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ITALY
The returns from Sunday's provincial
and municipal elections confirm the marked
turn to the left registered in the regional
vote.
In the provincial contests--which involved the
largest part of the electorate--the Communists, So-
cialists, and the more extreme left together polled
close to 46 percent, a 4- to 5-percent increase over
the total received in the 1972 parliamentary and
1970 regional elections. The Communists again were
the main winners; the Christian Democrats hit a
postwar low; the Neo-Fascists and the rest of the
right also declined.
The municipal count gave the Communist Party
first place in such major cities outside the red
belt as Milan, Naples, and Venice, but Communist
participation in the municipal government looks pos-
sible only in Venice. The Communists augmented
their positions in their strongholds such as Flor-
ence and Bologna. In other cities where municipal
elections were not held--Rome and Genoa, for exam-
ple--the regional returns show the Communists in
first place.
The results reinforce the Socialist Party's
position as the Christian Democrats' most important
partner at the local level. The nationwide decline
of the Liberal Party has deprived Christian Demo-
crats in many localities of the possibility of form-
ing centrist coalitions. The Socialists in some
places now have the choice of joining the Christian
Democrats in a center-left government or the Commu-
nists in "frontist" administrations.
The Socialists are likely to behave at the
national level as though the parliamentary balance
had shifted in their favor. The Christian Democrats
now appear to have two alternatives: either reach
an agreement with the Socialists on the terms for
a new center-left government or move toward early
national elections. Although renewing the coali-
tion seems the more likely course, many difficulties
lie along the way.
(continued)
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Not the least of these difficulties is the dis-
sent within each party over how to deal with the
other. Socialist leader De Martino seems inclined
to try to use his new leverage to resume participa-
tion in the government on improved terms. Some in-
fluential Socialists, however, will argue against
doing so, now that the Communists' opposition status
proved more profitable at the polls than the Social-
ists' participation in the government with the Chris-
tian Democrats.
The Christian Democrats, for their part, prob-
ably face a major internal battle over the party's
leadership and policies. Party chief Fanfani--on
whom both the Communists and Socialists centered
their campaign attacks--will almost certainly be
ousted. The new leader will then face the task of
drawing a consensus from quarreling party factions
over how to stop the erosionof Christian Democratic
appeal.
Political leaders, including the Communists,
have still not gone beyond their initial cautious
comments on what amounts to the largest shift in
Italian voting patterns since 1948. Serious assess-
ment of the election results will begin tomorrow
with a meeting of the Christian Democrats' party
directorate.
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CUBA
Fidel Castro--through a variety of
gestures and channels?has signaled that
he is ready to begin the process of nor-
malizing relations with the US.
Castro also has sent
letters to Senators McGovern and Sparkman stating
his intention to return the $2-million ransom paid
by Southern Airways in 1972. In addition, a number
of individuals involved in US hijackings have been
expelled from Cuba.
Castro realizes the process is likely to be a
long one, but he appears to believe he can strike a
deal that would allow Cuba access to US goods--es-
pecially technology and food stuffs--while allowing
the more complex matters to be hammered out later.
If the US were to lift its
embargo on food and medicines, Havana would release
35 American prisoners, nine of whom are political
prisoners. If the US publicly signaled its appre-
ciation for this gesture, Havana would be willing
to begin discussions concerning the complete lift-
ing of the embar o and the status of e ?r??
US property.
Castro's record indicates that he would also want
to discuss at this stage the return of the US naval
base at Guantanamo Bay, as well as other outstand-
ing issues, as a prelude to full commercial and
diplomatic ties.
Castro's apparent willingness to negotiate
without a full lifting of the US embargo may be the
result of two factors.
--Cuba's economic prospects have deteriorated
as a result of a decline in the world market
price of sugar, which has plummeted to 13
cents a pound from a high of 65 cents last
November. A decline in non-communist pur-
chases of Cuban sugar may make as much as 1
million tons available for export to the US.
(continued)
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--Castro thinks an election year will tie your
hands. He probably reasons that if he can get
negotiations started this year, things will
have proceeded far enough by next spring to per-
mit substantial trade without formal ties.
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PORTUGAL
The imbroglio over control of the
Portuguese Socialist Party's newspaper
Republica remains unresolved.
the newspaper
plant remain closed for at least another
day because "conditions of work are not
guaranteed."
(continued)
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SPAIN
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LEBANON
Syrian Foreign Minister Khaddam has
arrived in Beirut to join the prolonged
consultations on the formation of a Leb-
anese cabinet.
Khaddam is probably trying to support Lebanese
Prime Minister-designate Karami. Syria is widely
known to have pressed President Franjiyah to ap-
point Karami and would be embarrassed to see him
fail. Khaddam presumably is pressing Franjiyah to
get concessions from the right-wing Christian Pha-
langists. In return, he may be assuring the Presi-
dent that Syria is making an effort to rein in Leb-
anese socialist leader Kamal Jumblatt, who is now
in Damascus for consultations.
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LAOS
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NOTES
The Turkish note delivered to the US embassy
yesterday, stipulating a 30-day grace period during
which the status of US bases will remain unchanged,
made no reference to NATO.
A subsequent public statement by the Turkish
foreign minister emphasized that whatever the ulti-
mate decision on the arms embargo and US facilities,
the Turks will try to avoid any serious repercus-
sions in their relations with the US on other mat-
ters. Within a few hours after the foreign minis-
ter's statement, opposition leader Bulent Ecevit
issued a press release criticizing the government's
soft response to the arms embargo.
Portugal and Romania signed the first friend-
ship treaty between a NATO and a Warsaw Pact coun-
try during the recent visit of President Costa
Gomes to Bucharest.
The treaty stresses similarities between pol-
icies of the signatories and the nonaligned world.
The two countries, each somewhat alienated within
its own bloc, apparently find some solace in their
new bilateral relationship.
Chile
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