Word: mitterrand
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Affordable or not, here it comes. Mitterrand did not even wait for his parliamentary majority before acting on some of the key planks of his economic platform. On June 3, the Cabinet announced a 10% raise in the minimum wage, to $3.10 an hour, and expanded allowances of about 25% for the aged, handicapped and poor. Then followed a decree calling for a mandatory fifth week of paid vacation for all salaried workers. On June 10, the government set up a committee of business and union leaders to draft a plan for a gradual shortening of the work week...
...Some of Mitterrand's more ambitious reforms will require parliamentary approval. He will probably move quickly, for example, on his commitment to create 210,000 new public-sector jobs over the next twelve months. But the new government seems in no hurry to carry out the most controversial part of Mitterrand's economic program: the nationalization of private banks and eleven basic industries, including aircraft production, electronics and chemicals...
...firm date has been set for any nationalizations, and there is a growing feeling that a government takeover may simply involve ministerial supervision of the boards of major companies. Confided a prominent business leader in Paris last week: "I met with Mitterrand ten days ago and I could tell that he simply doesn't know how to nationalize. He's made this campaign pledge and now he's got to fulfill it. But I'm not sure his heart's in it." Other observers, however, are convinced that the full Socialist program?including nationalizations?will be carried out. "Many Frenchmen...
...most valid criticism of Mitterrand's nationalization plan is that it alienates the business community while assuring no real economic or job-sustaining benefits. With surprising candor, Finance Minister Jacques Delors admits that all the new economic measures will not significantly lower unemployment in the short run and will spur the country's growth rate by only .5% this year...
...Mitterrand team was also taking a cautious approach to foreign policy during its first weeks in office?and with good reason. The new government faced the task of allaying fears in friendly capitals that abrupt change was in the offing. Shortly after Mitterrand's inauguration last month, Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson set off for Bonn for meetings with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. His mission: to reassure France's foremost political and economic partner that "close and friendly Franco-German relations would continue" despite the departure of Schmidt's personal friend, cher Val?...