Word: premier
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...that elegantly patrician occupant of the Elysee Palace, President Valery Giscard d'Estaing (who is, after all, not even a Guallist, but a member of the small Independent Republican Party). The bugler was the impatient, youngish Guallist, Jacques Chirac, who only 3% months ago angrily quit as Premier because he felt that Giscard had failed to halt the march of the left in France. Now Chirac was issuing a call to arms that would have pleased De Gaulle: he announced the grand reformation of the moribund Guallist party, formed his battalions and declared war on the left...
...delicate truce with his principal opposition has enabled Andreotti, a seasoned politician who has three tunes been Premier and was a minister in 16 governments, to crank out an intensive program of austerity measures-including stiffer tariffs, higher government-controlled prices, and proposed wage restraints-aimed at curing the sickest partner in the European Common Market. Italy's current inflation rate is 18%, its internal deficit is estimated at $20 billion, and its foreign trade deficit has doubled in only a year, to $4.4 billion. So weak is the lira that it has to be supported...
Before leaving Rome, Andreotti discussed his concerns in an interview with Bonfante. While admitting that the economic crisis was severe, the Premier was faintly optimistic. "Some of the capital that fled abroad has returned, and there is a much greater awareness than there was a year ago that we have to face up to the crisis. The balance of payments used to be regarded as a problem for technicians. Today people understand that it bears on the price of meat at the butcher in the morning...
While Andreotti has no illusions about the Communists' ultimate thrust for absolute power, he also realizes that they do not want Italy's capitalistic structure to collapse completely. Said the Premier: "If the Communist Party does not aim at revolution and dictatorship, it is only natural that it should support the recovery plan. The Communists know full well that if the lira plunges to the bottom, it would mean entering a risky area ... It seems to me that this sense of collective responsibility cannot be misinterpreted as the historic compromise, as some would have...
...Where is the invitation? [Israeli Premier Yitzhak] Rabin is still saying he is not ready to think of Geneva if the Palestinians participate. But this is not a question of an Arafat state but of a Palestinian state. We are an important element in this area. Nobody can ignore this if he is looking for a solution...