Word: center
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...matter what the outcome, the next National Assembly seemed condemned to reflect the nation's divided political attitudes. Even if the present center-right government managed to survive, it would probably do so by such a narrow margin that any future government's effectiveness and longevity would be limited...
...level of political debate in France last week as the nation prepared for the March 12 and 19 parliamentary elections. The disparity between the stakes in the elections and the banality of the arguments was surprising, since the vote might well determine whether France would continue on its center-right course or veer?no one could say how far?to the left. The polls still showed the leftist parties leading the governing coalition, 50% to 45%, but under the two-round voting system the final outcome remained unpredictable...
...ennui was an ironic commentary on the confused French political scene, in which the center-right and the left-wing opposition were splintered into four competing groups, each trying to explain its quarrels to an increasingly indifferent electorate. As a result, the Frenchman's distrust of politicians deepened. "Left or right," shrugged the owner of a small porcelain shop in Paris' middle-class 18th arrondissement, "it's the same salad." Complained a nearby bistro owner: "The politicians always make a deal. Don't worry about that." In short, for many voters the campaign had become political Grand Guignol, masking power...
...measure, Raymond Barre, 53, is an unlikely man to be leading the center-right coalition's battle to retain power in France. Author of the standard economics textbook used in French schools and a former vice president of the Common Market, Barre was virtually unknown in his own country until President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing named him Premier in August 1976. The roly-poly professor, who describes himself as a "square man in a round body," enjoys the fact that he is not a professional politician. His blunt, straight-talking manner has won him the respect...
...Leader Francois Mitterrand claims that the 1978 price of the wage and welfare package will be $8.3 billion. Premier Raymond Barre contends that the entire Common Program would cost $32.7 billion. According to Barre, Mitterrand is "a pyromaniac masquerading as a fire fighter," whose extravagant schemes will destroy the center-right government's economic achievements...