Despite his unusually low-keyed manner, Portuguese Premier Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves could not conceal his anxiety about the troubled days his country faces. In a wide-ranging press conference last week in Lisbon, the intense, hard-driven Premier 1) announced a plan to make the Armed Forces Movement and its 28-member Revolutionary Council a formal part of the government for up to five years; 2) pledged that Lisbon would continue its commitment to NATO, although he added that the Lajes airbase in the Azores could not be used to resupply Israel in the event of a new Middle East war; and 3) warned that multinational corporations opposed to Portugal's "transition to socialism" have tried to damage the country's economy by withdrawing investment, and that a financial boycott by Western powers might follow.
The Armed Forces Movement's insistence upon a pact guaranteeing its control of the country's immediate political future came inopportunely in the midst of campaigning for the constituent assembly to be chosen next week. Gonçalves explained that the pact was necessary in order to preserve "the victories we have obtained in various fields, political and economic." Six of the country's twelve legal political parties ratified the plan, but some did so simply to prevent the M.F.A. from becoming a "prisoner of the Communist Party." That may happen anyway. Under the present terms of the pact, the M.F.A.-dominated Revolutionary Council will be the highest body in the land, with powers to both legislate and administrate. The new President of Portugal will be chosen by an electoral college composed of 240 civilians and 240 military men. The Communists are not expected to win the election (the polls give them only about 10% of the vote), but they do have strong support within the armed forces.
Washington has adopted an exceedingly low profile toward Portugal, hoping that the West Europeans would take the diplomatic initiative. West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt has proposed that the European Economic Community mount a joint effort to support Portugal's moderates with increased aid, trade ties and cultural links, but so far it has not got off the ground. What worries many Western observers is the growing attention paid to Lisbon's leftist government by the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Within three months after last April's revolution, the Soviets had established a skeleton embassy staff under Ambassador Arnold I. Kalinin, 45, a smooth diplomat who had previously served as charge d'affaires in Havana. Today the Russian embassy has an official staff of 15—roughly the same size as the American mission. Perhaps more important, there are about 120 Russians and non-diplomats employed as administrative staff and as representatives of Aeroflot, Tass and the Novotny Bank.