The Radicals Do Not Fear Differences Of Opinion

VJESNIK - May 17, 1988

ABSTRACT: Giovanni Negri (1) is interviewed by the Croatian daily Vjesnik on the PR's decision to hold its congress in Zagreb and on its campaign for creating a United States of Europe. It is urgent for Yugoslavia to join the European Community if it wants to overcome the serious economic, social and political crisis it is going through and which threatens the democracy and autonomy acquired in the present federative system. The danger of authoritarian solutions.

(RADIKALNE NOVOSTI, edited by MARINO BUSCHADIN and SANDRO OTTONI with the collaboration of MASSIMO LENSI, FULVIO ROGANTIN, PAOLA SAIN JAN VANEK, ANDREA TAMBURI - TRIESTE, January 1, 1989)

The Radical representative in the European Parliament reveals the Radicals' intentions to hold their next congress in

Zagreb. The Radical Party which for a long time has had good relations with the Yugoslavian government, has proposed to the European Parliament including Yugoslavia in the European Community. European unity is just as great a necessity for Europe as for Yugoslavia.

A few days ago the "MM" Hall of the Zagreb University Students' Centre was the site of political event unprecedented in recent times: for the first time since the famous years ('70 and '71) the assembly of a party was held that was not "the Party" - that is, the Communist League.

The never proclaimed embargo was broken by the Radical Party which for a short time has considered itself trans-national, even if the majority of its members and activists still live in Italy where the party was born, has its deputies in parliament and from where come the delegates it sends to the European Parliament.

At the Zagreb political meeting the PR's Secretary General Sandro Ottoni and his predecessor Giovanni Negri, Radical deputy to the European Parliament, announced their intentions to organise the next PR congress to be held for the first time outside Italy, in Zagreb.

We spoke with Giovanni Negri about this proposal.

N: Since the last PR congress we have begun to change our party from a national one to a trans-national one. Its trans-nationalism is based on two programmatic proposals: the establishment of the United States of Europe (USE) and the defence of human rights.

V: Why the USE?

N: We believe that besides the two superpowers there should also be a politically united Europe. The USE should also incorporate (include?) Yugoslavia since your country represents a political test for a united Europe.

We must work fast seeing that the European Community has chosen 1992 as the year for the economic unification of Europe. Of course this only applies to the twelve countries of the European Community. But there are two dangers: that European unity will be limited to these twelve countries alone and that by 1992 Europe will not have created the political institutions needed to oversee the process of economic unification.

V: Do you think that there are any new impulses in the process of economic unification?

N: A short time ago, for instance, the Italian industrialist De Benedetti, proprietor of Olivetti and many other firms, bought a third of the Belgian industry concentrated in the holding company Societè Génerale de Belgique. An economic power of these proportions cannot be controlled by local governments. De Benedetti cannot be controlled from Rome. On the contrary, it is the financiers like De Benedetti or Agnelli who control Rome. Thus a trans-national economic power in Europe already exists and functions. Now we also need a trans-national political power to control the already existing trans-national economic power.

V: How do you imagine the formation of the USE to take place?

N: The first step will be the transformation of the European Parliament into a true political organ, that is the legislative organ of the USE. But even before that it will be necessary to create a universal European constituent power. We propose that on July 14, 1989, on the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution the European States-General be convened just as the French States-General (Etats Generaux de France) were at that time. This time obviously it would not be a question of feudal states. The European States-General would be composed of representatives of the parliament of all member countries of the European Community. This organ could have constituent power and make decisions concerning the unification of Europe.

I know that all this may seem to be Utopian, but we must not forget that in political practice until now many things have been realised that seemed to be Utopian at first and that, on the contrary, many realistic initiatives have never been realised.

V: According to you ought all Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals be organised on the model of the European Community, which in large part coincides with membership in NATO?

N: The boundaries of the European Community as presently conceived must be widened. The biggest mistake would be to ignore in the next few years the countries on the other side of the fence, Yugoslavia above all. For the European Community it would be advantageous to have members outside of NATO as well and most of all non-aligned ones. This would undoubtedly contribute to strengthening the European identity as well as increasing the plurality of the Community, although even today the relationship with NATO is not the same in all the countries. France for some time has not participated in NATO's military structures.

This evening we have heard say that Yugoslavia has only one alternative: either economic development and dependence on the West, or economic underdevelopment and independence. Once before in the past Yugoslavia has given a lesson to the world by finding new solutions when everyone thought it had only two.

We have come to your country expressly in order to start off a petition to the Yugoslavian Assembly for Yugoslavia's joining the European Community.

For this reason we want to hold the next PR congress in January 1989 in Yugoslavia, if possible in Zagreb. The themes of the congress would be: European unification, defence of human rights and Yugoslavia joining the European Community.

V: Do you expect to find support in Yugoslavia, and from whom?

N: I admit that I do not understand the complexities of the problem since this is my first visit to Yugoslavia. Nevertheless I believe unification to be a necessity both for Europe and for Yugoslavia. Some may imagine, regarding the known principles of the PR, that our invitation is extended primarily to dissidents. ut this is not true. Our proposal is primarily addressed to the Belgrade government and then to all Yugoslavian citizens as well.

Our positions (points of view?) are known to the representatives of the Yugoslavian Communist League (YCL). Among other things, the Radical Party has for some time entertained good relations with the Yugoslavian government. Representatives of the YCL will also be invited to our congress. The Radicals are not afraid of differences of opinion.

V: What have you done so far to realise this proposal of yours?

N: In the European Parliament we have initiated action for the admittance of Yugoslavia to the European Community. In favour of this proposal we have gathered signatures from the European deputies of all countries (excepting Denmark) and all parties of both the right and the left.

At the same time we are organising a petition to the Yugoslavian Assembly in which we demand that this organ publicly evaluate the possibilities and the obstacles of Yugoslavia's candidacy for admittance to the European Community as a member in full standing.

V: What is your request based on?

N: We think, and we have also written this in the petition, that it is necessary for Yugoslavia to belong to the European Community because of the serious economic, social and political situation which is imperilling democracy and independence and could provoke a crisis in the present federative system. This could bring about authoritarian solutions which cannot be in the interests of the people. The second reason is the great economic and social advantages that will accrue to the twelve member countries of the European Community when the single market goes into effect scheduled for 1992 and the significance that this market will have for the birth of a European federation, that is the USE. The membership of Yugoslavia would be necessary due to the intensive economic, cultural and political relations that Yugoslavia has with the EC as well as for the fact that there already exist political and cultural forces within the Community that are working for Yugoslavia's admittance to the EC.

A group of European members of parliament have presented a proposal to this effect to the European Parliament.

And therefore it is important to collect many signatures for our petition in Yugoslavia to force the government to take a stance as soon as possible. For the same reason it is important for us to have new Yugoslavian members.

V: Are there already some Yugoslavian members?

N: The Trans-national PR already has 47 members in Yugoslavia, and perhaps when this is published we will even have more.

V: And in other non EC countries in Eastern Europe?

N: We have members in almost all countries, also in the East. There are 12 members in the Soviet Union. That means that in the USSR we are the second party. Among those members there is also Aleksander Lerner of the Soviet Academy. But we have no members in Albania, Romania or Bulgaria except for dissidents who have emigrated from these countries. On the other hand we have many members in Poland where we are on good terms with two organisations: "Solidarity" and "Volnosc i Pokoj". We were in Poland a short time ago where we had meetings with Michnik, Kuron, Walesa and other dissidents.

V: Have you had political problems in these countries?

N: There have been misunderstandings and wrong ideas. But I do not even want to consider the possibility that our political initiatives could run into political obstacles in Yugoslavia. It is important to understand that enrolling in the Radical Party is not like enrolling in a real political party, because we are not. We are a kind of lobby, an international club. Members of all other parties and organisations whatsoever can enrol in the PR because the Radicals want to act primarily on a moral level.

I do not believe that it would be possible to reach our objectives by every European country constituting its own Radical Party, mini-party with one to three per cent of the electorate. The trans-national PR wants to unite all the best political forces in all Europe so that together they can force the big parties and governments to make up their minds in favour of European unification.

----------------------------------------------------------------TRANSLATOR'S NOTES

1) Negri, Giovanni - (Turin 1957) Radical Party Secretary from 1985 to 1987. In 1986 with the slogan "Either you choose it or you lose it" he promoted the campaign for 10,000 new members. Since 1983 he has been an Italian deputy several times as well as deputy to the European Parliament. He has been among the most active supporters for the campaign against hunger throughout the world and promoter of the liberty for Tibet initiative. He was one of the founders of the ARCOD (Radical Association for the Democratic Constituent Assembly) and of the "Referendum Ticket", an electoral group in the 1992 elections.