Word: fabius
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...vocal advocate of Mitterrand's austerity policies in the previous Cabinet, Fabius was distrusted by the Communists. The son of a wealthy antiques dealer, the balding Fabius is the polished product of France's best schools. Most important, he is a close confidant of Mitterrand's. "You could not fit so much as a cigarette paper between the President's ideas and the way I carry them out," he said...
...Fabius' task, he acknowledged Tuesday, was "difficult" and "exciting." Although economic conditions have improved as a result of Mitterrand's austerity policies, inflation remains at 7.7% (although down from 12% at the end of 1982), economic growth is projected at only 1.4% this year, and foreign debt has reached an estimated $56 billion, the highest of any Western industrialized nation. Contrary to Mitterrand's hopes, austerity will have to be sustained, perhaps intensified, in the months ahead...
...Fabius is no stranger to controversy. In March 1983 he was promoted from Budget Minister, a junior position in the French Cabinet, to head of the Ministry for Industry and Research. His impact was immediate: he began to redirect large government subsidies away from such loss-making nationalized industries as steel, shipbuilding and coal toward new high-technology enterprises. When the government announced plans to eliminate 25,000 of the 90,000 jobs in the steel industry by 1987, ugly riots erupted in Lorraine...
Under the French system, however, the political heat of unpopular decisions falls largely on the Premier; hence Fabius remained the golden boy of the Socialist team. Although political analysts knew that Mauroy's days were numbered, most assumed that he would remain in place through the fall to act as a lightning rod for attacks on the tightfisted 1985 budget. But the left's dismal showing in the European elections forced Mitterrand to act. A fortnight ago, he withdrew his controversial legislation to bring the country's private schools under greater state control and announced that...
Initial reactions to Fabius' appointment were mixed. Said Bernard Pons, secretary-general of the neo-Gaullist party: "The Communists have just said today, down to the last comma, what we have been repeating for three years: the government's economic and industrial policy is a failure." But in a backhanded compliment to Fabius, Republican Party Leader François Leotard noted that Mitterrand had chosen "one of the best. We must not underestimate our adversary...