Word: mitterrand
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...Mitterrand backs a strong military in tandem with U.S. policy
...Europe. The smallest turnout was in Paris, where only 40,000 marched, a reflection of the fact that France remains on the periphery of the peace movement that is rising across the Continent. The Communists were the only major party supporting the protest, and President François Mitterrand's ruling Socialists, who happened to be having their annual conference in Valence, made clear their support of the installation of the U.S. missiles...
...first clear sign of Mitterrand's intentions on defense policy came last July, only two months after his inauguration, when he appeared at the Brittany naval base of Ile-Longue to announce plans to build a seventh nuclear submarine by 1990. The addition will enable the French navy's Strategic Ocean Force to keep three subs, each equipped with 16 multiple-warhead M-4 missiles, on high seas patrol at all times...
...Mitterrand also endorsed plans to modernize the other two pillars of France's nuclear force de frappe, bombers and missiles. The plans call for equipping the country's 35 Mirage IV strategic bombers with air-to-ground missiles and studying a new, possibly mobile system for protecting its 18 land-based intermediate-range missiles. He also reversed a campaign pledge to reduce compulsory military service from twelve to six months. Last month Defense Minister Charles Hernu, 58, announced a 17.6% hike in the defense budget, to $22 billion. Discounted for inflation, the increase amounts to 3.6%, higher than...
Like Reagan, Mitterrand is alarmed by the Soviet military buildup. Particularly worried about the deployment of an estimated 250 Soviet SS-20 missiles aimed at Western Europe, he roundly endorses the projected deployment of U.S. Pershing II and cruise missiles in West Germany and other NATO countries. He agrees with the U.S. decision to produce a neutron weapon, and has confirmed that France will continue to study the development of its own. On Poland, on Afghanistan, on the nature of the Soviet threat, Mitterrand has staked out positions more reassuring to Washington than those of former President...