Word: fabius
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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...
...staff emerged onto the steps of the stately, 18th century presidential palace in the center of Paris with a statement that sent shock waves across the country. "Premier Pierre Mauroy has presented his government's resignation," the official noted gravely. "The President has accepted [and] named Mr. Laurent Fabius as Premier." Fabius, formerly Mitterrand's Minister for Industry and Research, will at 37 become France's youngest Premier in more than a century...
...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...
Trying to take some of the sting out of the issue, Mitterrand pledged, "There will not be one layoff." Instead, workers would be gently eased into early retirement or transferred into two-year vocational retraining programs, with pay. Mitterrand also promised that Industry Minister Laurent Fabius, author of the restructuring scheme, would be given "exceptional powers" to encourage development in affected areas like Lorraine. Mitterrand even listed a number of new industries earmarked for particular towns in the region, and he made a point of promising a new high-speed rail line through Lorraine into West Germany. The workers...