Word: giscards
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What makes Coluche's move into politics viable at all is that the comedian has focused on problems that do disturb ordinary French voters. Unemployment has reached a near record 6.3%; the inflation rate is 13.5%. President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is expected to defeat his most serious opponent, only because his opposition on the left is so divided. Coluche is filling a void. More than 200 Coluche-for-President committees have sprung up across France, and he is confident that he will get the 500 signatures of elected local officials he needs to be placed...
...Giscard's regime gets tough with critics of "the Monarch...
When French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing took office in 1974, he promised to loosen the tight control that the Elysée Palace had maintained over French life, especially the press. Battle-weary French journalists looked forward to a new era of peaceful coexistence. As Finance Minister under President Georges Pompidou, the accessible Giscard had long been a favorite with reporters covering an otherwise chilly Elysée government. As President, he brought a refreshingly relaxed approach to the office, dining with workers' families and playing tennis. But after six years, a markedly different Giscard...
Where he once delighted in gunning his Citroen through Paris traffic to lose his police escort for the evening, Giscard is now nearly as distant and imperious as Louis XIV. He has, for instance, decreed that when he dines, no one except a head of state or Mme. Giscard may sit opposite him. The President, now openly referred to as "the Monarch," and his family are served before any of the guests...
...relationship with the press has shifted just as sharply. Giscard is considered a sure bet to win a second seven-year term in the presidential election next spring. Yet a relatively minor scandal has prompted the President to launch a war against journalists. They have responded with angry resistance, but the artillery at Giscard's command is formidable. The three French television channels and the national radio network are all state run. The government appoints their directors, who appoint their news editors, who make sure that little is broadcast that might displease Giscard. Lately the President has taken...