Italy Blinks at German Unification

...Those statements had made it clear that the United States and the Soviet Union, supported by Poland and France, doubted the wisdom of Kohl's policies and were unwilling to give him free rein...

...At the least, he went on, it should be a neutral, demilitarized state...

...In full synchronization with Soviet propaganda the PCI saw the Federal Republic as a hotbed of resurgent fascism, and East Germany as the democratic republic, where no Nazi, new or old, could be found...

...With the end of the War, the division between first- and second-rate powers gave way to the adversarial camps of the two superpowers: Western nations and Eastern satellites...

...The conference brought together 23 nations—the 16 members of NATO and the seven Warsaw Pact countries—to work out an "open skies" agreement for mutual aerial inspections...

...They resented the Allies' diktat— the German word was widely used at the time—and nationalists complained that France was regarded as a winner when, they contended, it also had lost the War...

...An editorial in the party daily, L'Unita, simply voiced regret over the "inevitable" outcomeof the balloting, attributing it in part to an infectious neonationalism caused by the destruction of the Berlin Wall...

...But the absence of aconstructive discussion by the Italian media of a subject affecting NATO and the balance of power in Europe is indeed surprising...

...Andreotti set the tone of his complaint at a press conference held prior to his departure for the U.S., where he ad vocated the " widest possible international debate" on the issue of Germany's future and ignored the fact that only the four winners have legal rights in the matter...

...Unlike France's President François Mitterrand, who categorically warned Chancellor Kohl that the Oder-Neisse border must remain permanent and rebuked him for his haste in pursuing German unification, the Italian government has been remarkably silent on such issues of substance...

...Exhibiting a measure of courage, Berlinguer accepted Italy's role within the Atlantic alliance...

...In addition, his insensitive stubborness on the subject of guaranteeing the Oder-Neisse border with Poland had awakened long dormant fears of German expansionism...

...Three weeks later, in the course of a state visit to the United States, Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti repeated his Foreign Minister's sentiments, albeit with more subtlety...

...But all it got were mostly barren chunks of land in no way fit to absorb its excess population, even to a small extent...

...Nevertheless, what most concerned an angry Italian Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis upon learning of the plan—no doubt to the surprise of those unfamiliar with Italy's prestige complex —was Rome's exclusion from it...

...If he is right, and these attitudes do not soon change, Italians could be in for a rude awakening—too late...

...In answer to my query, an influential journalist who moves in Socialist circles said he believed provincialism and shortsightedness accounted for Italy's widespread indifference to the fast-moving events in Central Europe...

...Silvio F. Senigallia reports regularly for The New Leader on Italian affairs...

...In 1936, following the successful invasion of Ethiopia, the colonies turned into a coveted empire of sorts, which rapidly dissolved early in World War II under the pressure of the British Army...

...The centuries of fragmentation and foreign dominationhaveleft their mark, however...

...Butitwas soon dominated by behind-the-scenes talks about a United States proposal for handling German reunification...

...Italy remains greatly preoccupied with what John F. Kennedy once called the shadow as compared with the substance of power...

...The formula was designed to confront reservations expressed in a number of official pronouncements questioning West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's headlong drive toward reunification...

...Other minor NATO countries, notably Belgium and Holland, also resented not being included as primary players...

...But the congress, preoccupied with remaking the PCI's image, did not respond to Ingrao's remarks...

...Under the leadership of Enrico Berlinguer, who died in 1984, there was a marked change in the party's foreign policy...

...After the 21-year-long Fascist interlude that ended in 1943, Italy now enjoys the respect of the international community and the friendship of its NATO allies...

...The one provocative editorial that did appear here, in the Rome daily La Repubblica on March 5, took the Western European nations to task for allowing old nationalisms to flare up and especially chided Paris for its miscalculations...

...For decades, it will be recalled, West Germany was its constant target...

...It could be argued that, pride aside, Rome's official policy of hiding behind the European Community and merely making noises urging broad international cooperation reflects the desire to avoid a direct clash with Bonn...

...During the entire indecisive, highly emotional four-day meeting, the one mention of Germany was made by Pietro Ingrao, leader of the party's left wing, which opposed the reforms advanced by General Secretary Achille Ochetto...

...A feeling of "victimism"— the fear of being slighted by richer, more powerful nations—is still present among the people and reflected in the country's foreign policy...

...To keep up with the French and British, the young nation went after its own African colonies at a high cost in blood and money...

...The treatment of the French really rankled, although it must of course be recalled that the indignation was fueled by Fascist nostalgia on the extreme Right and the strong anti-Americanism of the Communist party (PCI) on the Left...

...Today the country is populous (roughly 58 million people), highly industrialized, and as affluent as its Western European neighbors, especially in the Central and Northern regions...

...Later that morning Baker presented the proposal to Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, who, after a telephone call to President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, reported the USSR was ready to accept the plan with a few minor language modifications...

...A united Germany, Ingrao declared, would pose a great danger to the USSR, Poland and, finally, Italy...

...Nor did the subsequent conservative landslide in the East German elections seem to disturb the Communists...

...The changes did not pose a problem, and that afternoon the conference was informed of the Two-plus-Four formula: The two Germanies would settle the internal arrangements for their becoming one again, and then would sit down with the four victors "to discuss external aspects of the establishment of German unity, including the issues of security of the neighboring states...

...Yet as I have noted in these pages, Giorgio Napolitano, foreign minister in the PCI shadow cabinet, made no significant reference to German unity in his report last October 3 to the Central Committee (see "Italy Watches an Empire Stumble," NL, October 30,1989...

...All of that should be water under the bridge, yet old attitudes are hard to shed...

...Still, it could hardly have been expected that the very Communists who had once formed the backbone of the anti-German resistance would not react rather sharply to the suggestion, let alone the likelihood, of a reunited Germany led by Bonn...

...France is now trapped, said La Repubblica, because it has accepted a scheme permitting German unity to proceed much faster than a united Europe intended, thereby reducing the chances of safeguarding against expansionism...

...A good example of this was the country's reaction to the February 11-13 East-West conference in Ottawa...

...PRIDE AND PROVINCIALISM Italy Blinks at German Unification By Silvio F. Senigallia Rome One hundred TWENTY years have elapsed since Italy emerged as a unified nation from a centuries-old aggregation of small states...

...Between 1870 and 1914, Italy was a second-rate power striving constantly to be accepted in the first rank...

...Even more conspicuous was the unwillingness to discuss the issue at the PCI's March 6-9 special congress, called to deal with the question of adopting a new name and dropping the hammer-and-sickle symbol...

...Italian newspapers have similarly failed to echo any of the anxieties that the prospect of a revivified single Germany has inspired in the media almost everywhere else...

...At a breakfast meeting on February 13, Secretary of State James A. Baker III, British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd, French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas, and West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher worked out the details...

...In Italy, by contrast, there has been virtually no evidence of worrying about the specter of an aggressive Germany or the preservation of Eastern European borders...

...The favorable peace terms their country was granted nevertheless failed to satisfy much of the Italian public...

...Perhaps the most intriguing silence, though, has been that of the Italian Communist Party...

...Italy had the unusual status of friendly former enemy, since it changed sides from the Axis to the Allies in 1944...

...But in their cases security imperatives and still-haunting memories of World War II were the motivating factors, despite the realization that young Germans should not have to atone forever for the sins of their fathers...