Word: franc
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...There is no heir to Gaullism. Georges Pompidou's death has ended the lineage. It is finished." So declared Socialist Party Leader Francçois Mitterrand, 57, who stands a reasonable chance of breaking Gaullism's 16-year monopoly of the presidency of the Fifth Republic. With twelve candidates running to succeed Pompidou in the May 5 election, public opinion polls last week showed that Socialist Mitterrand, who also has the support of France's formidable Communist Party, is now favored by 40% of the voters. Most of the Gaullist and middle-of-the-road vote...
While busy wooing middle-of-the-road voters, Mitterrand has managed to becloud the crucial issue of what radical changes his presidency might bring. In foreign policy, he has distanced himself from his Communist partners by declaring: "France belongs to the Western world, the Atlantic world." He has said that his dealings with the U.S. would not be "so very different" from those of the current regime "but would be less abrasive." On domestic issues, he has downplayed parts of the Socialist-Communist platform that call for greater nationalization of industry and for a crash housing program by asserting that...
Leadership for the Continent is no where on the horizon. Europe today is governed by political technicians who devote most of their energies to tinkering with domestic affairs to remain in power-and do even that badly. Every major leader is beset by crises. Some, like France's Georges Pompidou and West Germany's Willy Brandt, seem tired and bored; others, like Britain's Edward Heath, are fighting for their political lives. All of them are, essentially, afraid to make decisions that would promote the cause of Europe for fear that they might cause momentary domestic complications...
...down. The dollar has been rising against other currencies because the U.S. has much more oil than Western Europe or Japan and thus stands to be hurt less severely than they by the energy emergency. In the past six weeks the dollar has climbed about 10% against the French franc, 8% against the German mark and 7.5% against the Japanese...
...nations that call the shots in monetary affairs-agreed at a meeting in Rome last week to put off indefinitely any plans to fix firm currency exchange rates. Even the French government abandoned its usual allegiance to fixed rates. It decided to stop propping up the value of the franc, which it had done by spending its foreign currencies to buy francs. Now the franc will probably decline...