Word: mitterrand
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France is loosening its system of dirigisme, or state direction of business, which goes back to the 17th century and Jean Baptiste Colbert, the minister to Louis XIV. Socialist President Francois Mitterrand nationalized 39 banks and five major industries soon after taking office in 1981. He changed course later, but not before the political damage had been done. Last March a right-wing coalition that promised to denationalize companies and promote business won control of the National Assembly. Now Mitterrand and Prime Minister Jacques Chirac are locked in a struggle over terms for selling off state-owned corporations. A particularly...
Bastille Day is traditionally a day for the French to put aside their % differences. But no sooner had Socialist President Francois Mitterrand and conservative Premier Jacques Chirac finished their review of the military parade at the Place de la Concorde last week than Mitterrand issued the sharpest challenge yet to the conservative government with which he has uneasily shared power since March...
...Mitterrand, who pushed through a program of nationalization after taking power in 1981, wants no part of denationalization and announced that he would not sign the decree. In a ten-minute televised appearance from his gilded study in the Elysee Palace, the President declared that there was a danger of "the national patrimony" being sold at too low a price and of foreign interests gaining control. "Precautions have been taken, but I do not see how they can be kept," Mitterrand said, adding that it was his duty "to assure our national independence...
Fresh from a Liberty Weekend meeting with Ronald Reagan, French President Francois Mitterrand flew to Moscow for a 3 1/2-day session with Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. While disavowing any formal role as diplomatic messenger, Mitterrand clearly planned to try to advance the prospect of a superpower summit later this year. Although some progress was achieved on several other issues, Mitterrand's postmeeting summit forecast was rather gloomy: "It is impossible to say today if it will take place or when it might take place. Diplomacy still has a lot of work...
...main stumbling block, both to the summit and to general progress in arms negotiations, remains Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, the space- based defense system better known as Star Wars. "The U.S. has no intention of renouncing SDI," Mitterrand said at the end of his visit. "The U.S.S.R. insists that as long as SDI is maintained, there can be no advance...