Word: premiered
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Premier Eyskens' announcement of a plan obviously approved by his Christian Socialist party instantly renewed Belgium's dormant political battle over the King's comeback. Leopold's supporters had gathered a 25-million franc ($71,429) war chest for the impending political campaign. His chief antagonists, the Socialists, were reviving their "action committees" which are supposed to organize strikes if the King should return. Cried one of the Liberal leaders, Gaston Vandewiele: "Leopold is obstinate and a blockhead...
...Premier Paul-Henri Spaak, now president of the Council of Europe's Assembly, who had hitherto been mild on the subject of Leopold, called the Leopold-Eyskens agreement "sheer political folly." If the King got less than 55% of the votes, said Spaak, the institution of the monarchy itself could be endangered. "The King would render the country an immense service," added Spaak, "if he agreed to abdicate. If this sacrifice is above his strength, the King could say he would return only with wide popular support . . . at least two-thirds of the whole country...
Belgium's sharpened political temper interfered with Leopold's vacation plans. When Premier Eyskens got word of the proposed Tyrol trip, he snapped to the King's secretary in Brussels: "Tell His Majesty that he must forget the invitation. Belgian public opinion has a disagreeable remembrance of Leopold's visits to Austria during the German occupation...
When France is in the throes of forming a new government, the spectacle is undignified, sometimes dangerous and a severe physical tax on the men involved at the core of it. For three days 54-year-old René Mayer, last week's unsuccessful premier-designate, did not eat a decent meal. From morning until late at night he conferred hectically with party leaders. At intervals he replenished his energies with crackers and chocolate bars from a desk drawer...
...what he could do. By the narrowest margin in French parliamentary history, Moch had been approved by the Assembly, but he could not form a cabinet. It seemed that neither of the other two parties in the center coalition, the Radicals and Popular Republicans, wanted a Socialist premier. Then long-suffering M. Auriol called on the Radicals' René Mayer...