EDITORIAL
from issue no. 10 - 2004

Mitterrand



Giulio Andreotti


The President François Mitterrand

The President François Mitterrand

That President Mitterrand managed to gain a second seven-year term did not displease many French people (except for some aspirants to the succession such as Michel Rocard) and still less us foreigners, who much appreciated his frankness and style.
The constitutional system of France confers on the head of state not only the formal role of representation, but real political powers also. He may preside over the Council of Ministers and negotiate international treaties. Hence direct contact in foreign policy with his “counterparts”, but also with the presidents of governments and foreign ministers, especially in the sphere of the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance.
A genuine socialist, Mitterrand was considered independent; and in fact there were – especially in the south of France – mayors and public figures who were classified sic et simpliciter as Mitterrand’s men. In any case party interests never weighed with him.
That President Mitterrand managed to gain a second seven-year term did not displease many French people (except for some aspirants to the succession such as Michel Rocard) and still less us foreigners, who much appreciated his frankness and style
As Foreign Minister, I one day accompanied President Craxi to the Elysée Palace and on the agenda we had a list of “fugitives” given us by the police. The reaction was unusual. How come that after so many years we hadn’t turned over the page, all the more so because many of the people involved were domiciled and were doing small jobs and causing no trouble? About some in any case he had no information (one, for that matter, was working – but not on screen – for television!), but he said he was willing to hand them over to us if it turned out they were still active members of the Red Brigade. I couldn’t hold back from saying: «In that case you’d best keep them for yourself». Craxi glared at me, though Mitterrand smiled and we passed on to other issues.
On one occasion there was an argument. He was in Venice as a guest during the unhappy allied military operation in Lebanon. Without any agreement the French had used bombs and made the situation risky for everybody (I recall that an American barracks had been tragically blown up). As Foreign Minister I protested and perhaps I did so with more energy than necessary. In the background there also was the differences about relations with Syria that Italy had managed to keep positive. However, everything ended there. Mitterrand changed the subject to Venice and his wish – if he found the right price – to buy a small apartment. He was also a great admirer of other Italian cities, among them Arezzo and Viterbo. In Bologna they had conferred an honorem causae degree on him with great ceremony.
In the decisive six-month term of Italian chairmanship, on the eve of the Maastricht Conference, Mrs. Thatcher, opposed to the Conference, had gone to Palazzo Farnese (the French embassy in Rome) to bring Mitterrand round to her view. She didn’t succeed and during the session, isolated as she was, she had to yield. She states incorrectly in her memoirs that we Italians had changed the order of the day. One has to have patience. On another occasion, Thatcher demanded that the rest of us support her demands and provoked a very firm response from Mitterrand (and Kohl).
Above, nçois Mitterrand with John Paul I at Tarbes airport in August 1983; below, the members of the Council of Europe, gathered for a special session in Rome, conclude preparation for the two intergovernmental conferences, one on economic 
and monetary union and the other on aspects of political union in October 1990

Above, nçois Mitterrand with John Paul I at Tarbes airport in August 1983; below, the members of the Council of Europe, gathered for a special session in Rome, conclude preparation for the two intergovernmental conferences, one on economic and monetary union and the other on aspects of political union in October 1990

In an off-the record free conversation at a private dinner in Paris I took the liberty of remarking that, watching the electoral debate with President Giscard d’Estaing on television, I had been struck by his powers of argument. To the five minutes of figures, diagrams, references made by Giscard he had answered brusquely in a few lapidary words. He told me that seven years earlier he had been beaten by the perfidious ability of Giscard, then Minister for Finance (who in France has considerable authority). He had been preparing for months, studying statistics, essays, parliamentary legislation. He knew by heart – and said so – the still unsatisfied need for rent-controlled housing; the pockets of stagnation in the export balance and so on. His opponent shook his head at his detailed arguments, declared them altogether wrong and, to underline the challenge, read out from some cards in front of him. Mitterrand became confused, didn’t know how to react and came out very badly from the confrontation. When the curtain came down he managed to find out that Giscard’s cards were blank. He’d done a bit of juggling by pretending to check data. That was why seven years later he knew he mustn’t fall in with his opponent in that type of argument. When Giscard spoke of the great French growth over the recent seven years he replied: «Seven years ago we had half the unemployment we have today». And to the remark that France was penalized by not having resources of energy and raw materials he answered in lightning fashion: «There is a country that doesn’t have resources of energy and raw materials and is doing very well: Japan. Because it has a good government».
The president was particularly amused when recalling that exchange of low blows.
And he spoke to me on the occasion of the technique of appearing on television. You have to be very brief, with absolutely unmistakable phrases, avoid difficult words, such as self-determination, or ones with multiple meanings such as interests.
It was a real and useful lesson.
In August 1980 Mitterrand met Enrico Berlinguer in Strasburg. In an interview given to La Repubblica he said: «We can build the European left together». But the project went no further, not least because of the understandable reaction of some Italian socialist leaders who didn’t appreciate ruses of that sort.
And conversations with Mitterrand, even outside of formal meetings, were of great interest. He was always very much involved with the Palestinian question, believing it the point where all the problems came together. But you might hear him asking unlikely questions, as, for example, if we were concerned, after the Polish one, to have another Italian pope. He particularly liked one feature of our political system: the status of senator for life for former presidents of the Republic.
And conversations with Mitterrand, even outside of formal meetings, were of great interest. He was always very much involved with the Palestinian question, believing it the point where all the problems came together. But you might hear him ask unlikely questions, as, for example, if we were concerned, after the Polish one, to have another Italian. He particularly liked one feature of our political system: the status of senator for life for former presidents of the Republic
He didn’t have De Gaulle’s snobbish feelings for the Americans, but when in October 1985 Reagan sent out the invitations for a western meeting to prepare for the first summit with Gorbacev, he didn’t join in. He reproached the Washington government with being too much the leading actor with insufficient consideration of Europe. He also believed they didn’t understand democratic socialism. I quote from my diary (1 May 1985) this phrase of his: «If you tell citizens not to spit on the floor is that socialism? If you aren’t to relieve yourself in the street is that perhaps a norm contrary to the market economy? If you impose driving on the left is that suffocating control from on high?».
A curious detail.
Jacques Attali’s diary gives a precise record of President Mitterrand’s meetings with foreign guests. There I found the explanation for a curious greeting I received at Longchamp racecourse with gratitude for having brought President Mitterrand. I had in fact made my bilateral meeting in Paris coincide with the day of the Arc de Triomphe and we had gone to the races. But I didn’t know that Mitterrand detested racing and that he had come out of sheer courtesy.
Later I learned that a declaration of his against betting on the horses aroused fierce protests that the Socialist Party had difficulty dealing with. The tiercé is widespread in France and criticizing it is truly unpopular.
The great writer Jean Guitton’s definition of Mitterrand is very fine: «A socialist king curious about God».
After François Mitterrand’s death there were disagreeable things said against him in France. I don’t want to meddle in French affairs. As an Italian and European I have a clear and positive memory of him.


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