Word: mitterrand
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...Reagan Administration last week could not be fairly accused of ignoring foreign affairs. Vice President George Bush was in Paris, where he held what he called "warm and friendly" talks with France's new Socialist President Francois Mitterrand (see WORLD). Secretary of State Alexander Haig returned to Washington after a two-week trip that included stops in Peking, Manila and Wellington, New Zealand, where he sought to solidify America's ties with its allies in the Pacific. Special Envoy Philip Habib was still shuttling in the Middle East. At home, however, a honeymoon tolerance of the Administration...
...explanations of the Mitterrand administration seem to have had some effect in mollifying Washington's alarm. Just before returning to the U.S. at week's end, Bush told reporters in London that he felt "there wouldn't be the complications some might think" over the composition of the French Cabinet...
...elections had given them 289 of the 491 seats in the Assembly and freed them of any dependence on Communist votes. Indeed, the number of Communist seats had crashed from 86 to a humiliating 44, the lowest number in more than a decade. There were two main reasons for Mitterrand's action. First, he wanted to secure the cooperation of the country's largest trade union, the General Confederation of Labor (C.G.T.), which is controlled by the Communists. Second, a role in the Cabinet would make it awkward for the Communist Party to oppose government policies...
...addition, there was Mitterrand's personal ideological commitment to forging an all embracing union of the left under his leadership. As Premier Pierre Mauroy put it: "The Communists voted for François Mitterrand. Why not secure their representation in the government...
...professional diplomat with some 30 years of experience abroad, including long stints in France's former colonies and eight years as a member of the Brussels-based European Commission, Claude Cheysson, 61, is expected to have a strong hand not only in explaining but in shaping Mitterrand's foreign policy. Cheysson took an hour last week to outline his views to TIME Correspondents Henry Muller and Jordan Bonfante. Excerpts...