WESTERN EUROPE CANADA INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A000600090001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 27, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 19, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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Secret
No Foreign Dissem
IOVI~~ KGU~
Western Europe
Canada
International Organizations
Secret
119
No. 0156-75
March 19, 1975
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NO DIS,SEM ABROAD/CONTROLLED DISSEM
Warning Notice
Sensitive Intelligence Sources and Methods Involved
NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION
Unauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
Classified by 005827
Exempt from general declassification schedule
of E. 0. 111652, exemption category:
? 5B (1), (2), and (3)
Automatically declassified
on: Date Impossible to Determine
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WESTERN EUROPE - CANADA - INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com-
munity by the Western Europe Division, Office of Current Intelligence, with
occasional contributions from other offices within the Directorate of
Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to
the authors of the individual articles.
France Reported Considering Some New
NATO Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Portugal Bans Political Activity By
Center-right, Far-left Groups. . . . . . . . 6
Belgian Demonstrations Fizzle. . . . . . . _ _ 8
25X6
Furor Over Possible Shelepin Visit
to Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
March 19, 1975
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France Reported Considering Some New NATO Links
France is looking for ways to increase
cooperation with NATO, although only very
limited steps appear to have bee*, taken thus
far.
President
:iscard has approved "limited, but important
collaboration" with the alliance's integrated
military command, which France left in 1966.
Specifically, Giscard is said to have authorized
high-level secret talks to try to determine
the wartime role of French forces in Germany
within the framework of the NATO integrated
command.
Giscard has stipulated that French forces
are not to be deployed eastward, where they
would be tied into the NATO strategy of forward
area defense. Rather, these forces are to
be held in the rear where they could be used
as NATO's primary ground reinforcement in
the initial days of a conflict with the Warsaw
Pact. This strategy also serves national
interests by keeping the French First Army
in position to defend its own territory in
the event Warsaw Pact forces break through
NATO's forward-based forces in West Germany.
The French President basically appears
to be trying to formalize discussions and
arrangements that vreviously have been handled
informally.
the extent of France s cooperation wi depend
primarily on whether any arrangement that
is reached can be kept secret.
Giscard has been quietly telling his West
March 19, 1975
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European allies that he hopes to shift French
policy closer to NATO, but that he will be
restrained from making any obvious moves
by his continued dependence on the Gaullists
in the National Assembly.
The French President is known to have
a more open attitude toward cooperation with
NATO than his predecessors, but he clearly
is not prepared to move toward actual reentry
of French forces into the Alliance's integrated
command. His government has been showing
interest in several NATO activities, however.
Foreign Minister Sauvagnargues told NATO
Secretary-General :Guns in February that Paris
is studying ways of tying its communications
system into the NATO network. The French
have also participated recently in the Alliance's
communications committee, although they would
not be able to vote until they actually enter
the NATO network.
The French NATO representative has said
that he wants to participate in SHAPEX 75,
an alliance exercise that will involve a
symposium on basic problems of the organization.
While the French have not previously participated
in this exercise, they have taken part in
other, more significant exercises. The government
has also allowed US forces in Europe to use
training areas in southern France despite
domestic criticism.
The possibility of French participation
in NATO's Eurogroup has also been raised
again, this time in a 'brief statement by
a French Socialist Party official that appeared
early this month in Le Monde. Rumors that
France was about to join the Eurogroup have
been circulating for at least a year and
have consistently been denied by the French
government. Under Pompidou, the French allegedly
were motivated by the desire to lay the groundwork
for an exclusively European defense force;
under Giscard, it reportedly has been the
March 19, 1975
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price for securing a part of the future West
European arms market. The Belgian Prime
Minister told Giscard that his country would
replace its F-104 aircraft with mirages only
if France developed closer military ties
with its allies through such a forum as the
Eurogroup. (Secret No Foreign Dissem/No Dissem
Abroad/Controlled Dissem)
March 19, 1975
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Portugal Bans Political Activity By Center-right,
Far-left Group s
Portugal's newly created Revolutionary Coun-
cil yesterday issued a. ban on political activity
by the center-right Christian Democrats and two
far-left groups. The ban will be in effect until
after the election on April 12; the parties
reportedly will be permitted to keep their
offices open. Christian Democrat leader Major
Sanches Osorio,who was a close associate of
General Spinola, was accused of complicity in
the unsuccessful coup attempt on March 11.
The Social Democratic Center was not
included in the ban and will apparently be
permitted to participate in the election. The
Social Democrats appeal primarily to conser-
vatives and have been described as "fascist"
by leftists. The loss of party records in
extremist attacks following the abortive coup
will make it difficult, if not impossible,
for the party to organize an effective election
campaign.
The inclusion of leftist groups in the
ban was expected, in view of the military's
pledge to curb political violence. At least
one of the two groups has frequently criticized
the Armed Forces Movement, as well as the
Communist Party, and is expected to continue
or perhaps increase political violence. Several
thousand supporters of this group, the Reorganiz-
ing Movement of the Proletarian Party, gathered
outside the National Assembly building in Lisbon
last night to protest the ban. The demonstrators
dispersed without. violence following a show of
force by the military.
March 19, 1975
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In the meantime, a cabinet shuffle authorized
last week has still not materialized. The delay
suggests that Prime Minister Goncalves is having
trouble finding suitable candidates or obtaining
agreement on his recommendations. Goncalves said
last week that he would bring members of the
Portuguese Democratic Movement, a communist front,
into the government. Rumors of a marked shift to
the left continue.
In Oporto last Sunday, Foreign Minister
Soares, the Socialist Party leader, came out
against a cabinet change three weeks before the
election. Appearing to challenge Goncalves,
Soares said the communist-front group lacked
the following to be included in the government.
Soares added that he could best serve his country
in his current position and that the Socialist
campaign would open on schedule tomorrow.
Communist leader Cunhal's recent attacks
on the center-left Popular Democratic Party
indicate that there may be disagreement over
the composition of the new cabinet. Cunhal
claims that the Popular Democrats have abandoned
their position as a member of the coalition
government and have engaged in reactionary propa-
gandizing. The Popular Democratic Party, in
an exposed position since the coup attempt, has
sought to defend itself by climbing on the Armed
Forces Movement's bandwagon.
Vitor Alves, a minister without portfolio,
told a US embassy spurce yesterday that an
announcement is imminent that the election will
be postponed. This lends substance to rumors
that the balloting may be put off until April 25,
the first anniversary of the overthrow of the
Caetano regime. (Confidential)
March 19, 1975
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25X1A
Belgian Demonstrations Fizzle
The opposition Socialist rally and the
Flemish nationalist. demonstration last weekend
did not seriously threaten the.Belgian govern-
ment.
Some 25,000 Socialists gathered in Brussels
on Saturday to condemn the government's failure
to take strong action to correct increasing unem-
ployment and the high cost of living. The weather
was poor and the crowd smaller than expected. The
governing Social Democrats concluded from speeches
during the rally that the Dutch-speaking wing of
the Socialist Party was interested in eventually
joining the government, but negotiations for
such a merger are not expected until after the
summer holidays.
Flemish nationalists rallied some 3,500
Dutch-speaking.loyalists on Sunday and tried to
march into the bilingual borough of Schaerbeek.
This demonstration had been banned by authorities;
police security forces broke up the demonstrators
and detained some 50 to 100 would-be rioters.
Failure to attract a bigger turn-out probably
reflects the success of.Prime Minister Tindemans'
efforts to keep the linguistic question out of
parliament. For the time being, the danger of
a political crisis over this touchy issue has
been avoided. (Confidential)
March 19, 1975
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Furor Over Possible Shelepin Visit to Britain
The Wilson government's decision to grant a
visa to Alexander Shelepin, former head of the
Soviet secret police (KGB) and now head of the
Soviet trade union council, has aroused a storm
of protest in Britain. Shelepin is scheduled to
lead a delegation of Soviet trade union officials
that has been invited to visit Britain next month.
Parliamentary opposition has resulted in a
letter of protest signed by 104 members from all
parties. Some moderates, however, maintain that
the Soviet leader, while not welcome, should not
be kept out.
Shelepin's prospective visit raises a number
of problems for the British government. These
include:
--The treatment he should be accorded. One
Foreign Office official has said that Shelepin
would be received as a trade union leader and not
as a leading government figure and member of the
politburo. Prime Minister Wilson, however, who
has been trying to improve relations with the Soviets,
must decide whether to meet Shelepin.
--The problem of ensuring his security. A
number of anti-Soviet emigre and Jewish groups are
almost certain to organize protest demonstrations.
The Soviet delegation will include at least six
security agents and the question has arisen as to
whether the agents should be allowed to carry guns.
Although they could be granted temporary firearms
certificates, many Britons would be opposed to al-
lowing known KGB officials to carry weapons.
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Although the Trades Union Congress issued the
invitation to the Soviets, many union officials are
having second thoughts about the visit. Only three
top-level union leaders have said they favor Shelepin's
coming, and one of these, Hugh Scanlon, head of Britain's
second largest union, appears to be having some doubts.
Several others have either expressed little enthusiasm
or total opposition to the visit.
Union leaders, moreover, are unable to decide what
sort of program to set up for the Soviet delegation.
They had hoped to visit several British factories, but
many employers, already plagued with union problems,
are not interested in extending such hospitality.
Moscow originally regarded the Shelepin visit as
part of its effort to improve relations with the UK,
exemplified by Wilson's trip to the USSR last month.
In addition, it would enhance the respectability of
the USSR's controlled "trade unions" in their contacts
with Western labor organizations. The uproar over
Shelepin may now cause the Soviets to reconsider the
desirability of having him go. On the other hand,
they will be reluctant to appear to be knuckling under
to British public opinion, because it might appear to
be a tacit admission that there is something odious
about Shelepin. (Confidential No Foreign Dissem)
March 19, 1975
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