Word: poncet
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...considered as excessive," it said after the announcement of the coordinated bank bailout. The crucial word there is "temporarily." Much of Europe's economic growth over the past few years came about because of a self-imposed fiscal discipline. But, as Patrice Poncet, a finance professor at ESSEC Business School in France, points out: "It's the tendency of politicians to turn temporary measures into permanent ones." Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. But for Europe's leaders, deciding to bail out the banks may turn out to have been the easy part...
...place the Soviet Union in the Continent's political mainstream. Mitterrand gave at least partial credence to such a concept, saying that for the first time in 50 years, Europeans have a chance to take "the path of reconciliation." Many French remain dubious. Warns former Foreign Minister Jean Francois Poncet: "Gorbachev's common European home is a bid to engulf the European Community in a wider enterprise dominated by the Soviet Union...
...serious European observers of the German scene, however, give much credence to any neutralist scenario. Even in France, the nation most sensitive to fluctuations on the German fever chart, most analysts see little cause for real concern. Says former Foreign Minister Jean Francois-Poncet: "The experts do not doubt West Germany's commitment to democracy nor the firmness of its ties to the West...
...François-Poncet offered several explanations. First, Soviet adventurism in the Third World turned out to be costly and disappointing. Second, Western Europe had become an attractive target because it could be intimidated by a rapid Soviet military buildup, especially of SS-20 intermediate-range missiles, of which Moscow now has 351 deployed. Intimidation was made all the easier by the arrival of a so-called successor generation ol young West Europeans ignorant of immediate post-World War II history, thus uncertain of U.S. policy and fatalistic about Soviet power. Third, the Soviets are grappling in Eastern Europe with...
...corollary to the public relations problem, there were wistful calls for what François-Poncet called "inspired leadership": opinion polls on both sides of the Atlantic show public support that could be mobilized for the Atlantic Alliance. As the alliance's leader, it was widely agreed, the U.S. must be more sensitive to the gusts of anxiety that shake Western Europe, and the Reagan Administration must moderate its language on East-West issues. At one point during the conference, Senator Tsongas told Richard Burt, "If you assume that the next battlefield is the European heart and mind...