100 Measures

Soares keeps a promise

When Prime Minister Mario Soares campaigned for office last spring, he vowed that if elected he would institute "100 measures in 100 days" to get Portugal back on its feet. That must have seemed like a tall boast to many voters, who in the past decade had already lived through two previous Soares governments that had not been notable for their achievements. Nevertheless, the Portuguese elected Soares, who formed a coalition of Socialists and Social Democrats in late spring with a strong majority in parliament. Since then, the Prime Minister has indeed shown his determination to turn the country around. His first 100 days in office came to an end last week, and the tally sheet shows that he is living up to his campaign promise.

Portugal's economic crisis has been his primary focus. The annual inflation rate is in excess of 20%, the balance of payments deficit is $3.2 billion, and government expenditures last year outstripped revenues by almost $2 billion. Among Soares' first moves were measures to lower or eliminate government subsidies for such essential items as sugar, wheat and milk, and to negotiate $685 million in loans from the International Monetary Fund. He raised taxes and cut the amount available in this year's budget for spending in state-controlled industries and public works. Not least he opened up the state-controlled banking, insurance, cement and beer industries to private investment, a step that Portugal's center-right parties have been urging for years.

Other domestic measures have included crackdowns on waste and corruption in Portugal's bloated bureaucracy, as well as a campaign against tax evasion, drug trafficking and crime generally. At the same time, efforts to improve health care and education, and plans to reform the tax system, promote tourism and guarantee farm prices are on the agenda.

On the diplomatic front, Soares has cultivated good relations with the Portuguese-speaking African countries, especially Mozambique. He is also acting as an intermediary in the negotiations over Namibia, and has invited representatives of the former Portuguese territories in Africa to attend a summit meeting in Lisbon this winter; so far, all but Angola have accepted. In addition, Soares plans to gather in Corfu next month with the Prime Ministers of the three other socialist governments in southern Europe--Italy, Greece and Spain. He will meet with his Spanish counterpart, Felipe Gonzalez, on Nov. 11 and 12.

In his newly assertive reincarnation, Soares has taken on even the European Community, which has dithered for seven years over Portugal's application for membership. "The moment has arrived for us to force the E.G. to make a decision," he says. "We are tired of waiting on the doorstep." Soares warns that if Portugal is not let in soon, it "will find other alternatives." The country is already dependent on the U.S. for a large portion of its foodstuffs, including 90% of its wheat. President Antonio Ramalho Eanes was in Washington last week for talks with President Reagan and other Administration officials on topics like the renewal of the lease for use by the U.S. of the Portuguese air base in the Azores.

Despite Soares' aggressive leadership, many of his backers fear that the austerity moves, which are expected to cost thousands of jobs, will erode his public support. Communist Leader Alvaro Cunhal has already declared war on what he calls Soares' "policies of national disaster." The question, in the words of one Cabinet minister, "is whether Soares will be able to remain the same after the social unrest begins--as it will when our tough measures begin to take effect." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.