Word: mitterrand
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France did not have to hold a referendum on Maastricht. But French President Francois Mitterrand wanted more than parliamentary ratification; he hoped that a resounding French "oui" would make people forget that Denmark had already voted against the treaty--which needed unanimous ratification by all European Community (EC) member states...
...Mitterrand, whose reputation as a political genius had already been tarnished by his appointment of Edith "Anglo Saxons are homosexuals and Japanese are ants" Cresson as Prime Minister last year, has seen his ploy--and his popularity--explode in his face...
...doubts about the pan-European projects and dreams that had beckoned so beguilingly in the aftermath of the cold war. The Danes spurned the Maastricht treaty because they feared an overcentralization of power in Brussels. Ireland did vote in favor of the treaty in June. France's President Francois Mitterrand, who did not have to call a national referendum, chose nonetheless to do so after the Danish vote in order to boost his own stature. He assumed the treaty would easily be approved by French voters; instead it became inextricably tied to his own unpopularity...
That would apply equally in France, where two weeks ago Mitterrand found himself under the knife for prostate surgery and under the gun to cure his nation's political and economic malaise. But there were few takers for the argument advanced by Prime Minister Pierre Beregovoy that the Bundesbank's actions proved the willingness of the Germans to "put the interests of Europe ahead of their...
...French President Francois Mitterrand, responding to reporters who asked if his surgery for prostate cancer would cause him to resign...