Word: mitterrand
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...concerted efforts of conservatives to get Mitterrand to change his mind failed. Throughout the summer, businessmen had lobbied Premier Pierre Mauroy, Finance Minister Jacques Delors and Industry Minister Pierre Dreyfus, all moderates who were thought to consider the nationalization plan excessive. The Conseil d'Etat, a 199-man body that advises the government on the constitutionality of legislation, warned that it might be discriminatory to take over French companies while leaving foreign ones in private hands. But Mitterrand remained loyal to a central plank in the Common Program he signed with the Communists in 1972. Declared the President last...
...invoke dubious economic theories to justify their action. According to Mauroy, the new state enterprises will enjoy the autonomy that has ensured the success of companies already in the hands of the French government, such as Renault (see box). But conservatives and a good number of Socialists doubt that Mitterrand will give the new state companies the same free-enterprise hand Renault enjoys. Central to Socialist doctrine is the view that the state should use nationalized industries to catalyze growth of an economy plagued by stagnation, record unemployment (7.7%) and rising inflation (14%). By controlling the banks and turning...
...even many Socialists concede that Mitterrand's primary motive is political. Wholesale nationalization is a pet project of both his own party's Marxist left wing and of the Communists, who hold four seats in the Cabinet. Mitterrand believes that co-opting their ideas is the best way of weakening these potentially troublesome allies...
Meanwhile, there were signs that Mitterrand was ending his honeymoon with the French electorate and that the bloom on the Socialist rose was beginning to fade. Inaugurating France's new, high-speed train last week (see SCIENCE), he was greeted with polite applause but no great enthusiasm. Hecklers bearing placards at stations along the way included members of the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail, a union that enjoys close links to the Socialist Party. Their message: workers still expect Mitterrand to deliver on his promise of lowering unemployment and reducing...
...press conference, Mitterrand declared that he had not only the will but the time to fulfill his promises: his term runs for seven years. But he cannot wait that long to meet the challenge of his office. As Le Matin put it last week: "Now that everyone is convinced Mitterrand intends to keep his campaign promises, the question is not whether he can produce the reforms but whether he can master them." -By Henry Mutter. Reported by William Blaylock and Sandra Burton/Paris...