Word: mitterrand
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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...
...bureaucratic tone, the announcement triggered a week of political drama that led within days to the collapse of France's fragile and often acrimonious "union of the left." After a series of all-night marathon discussions, the Communist Party announced that it was quitting Mitterrand's three-year-old Socialist administration. "We do not have the moral right to allow millions of women, men and disappointed youths to believe that we can meet their expectations within the present government," declared Communist Spokesman Pierre Juquin. "We refuse to deceive them, as we refuse to deceive ourselves...
...change comes at a critical time for Mitterrand, who was elected in 1981 on a wave of support for Socialist-led change. For the past two years, the President has been forced to administer draconian economic medicine, including higher taxes, currency controls and widespread layoffs in ailing industries. As a result, unemployment has risen to about 10% (vs. 7.2% when Mitterrand was elected), and the President's popularity rating has sunk to an all-time low of 35%. In last month's elections for the European Parliament, the Socialist share of the vote dropped to 20.8% from...
...Mitterrand's troubles, the Communist walkout bore all the signs of a craftily engineered blessing. Holding 285 of the 491 seats in the National Assembly, the Socialists do not need the Communists in order to stay in power. In one stroke, Mitterrand managed to boost his party's fortunes well before the legislative elections that must take place by June 1986, and to end an awkward situation in which the Communists were incessantly criticizing the very government of which they were a part. He decided to replace the genial but politically discredited Mauroy, 56, with a new leader...
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...