Word: veilings
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...Strasbourg, the spanking new European Parliament chose as its first President the elegant and brainy Simone Veil, 52, a former French Health Minister, a Jewish survivor of the Auschwitz death camp and one of the Continent's hottest political properties. In Lisbon, President António Ramalho Eanes abruptly chose as interim Premier Maria de Lourdes Pintassilgo, 49, a chemical engineer and women's rights advocate now serving as Portugal's delegate to UNESCO in Paris...
Riding on the support of her own centrist Liberals, plus a loose coalition of Christian Democrats, British Conservatives and French Gaullists, France's Veil won her post on the second ballot, with 192 out of the 377 valid votes cast. Two leftist candidates, Italian Socialist Mario Zagari and Italian Communist Giorgio Amendola, went down to defeat with 138 and 47 votes respectively. Veil's victory thus demonstrated the effective dominance of the center-right parties in the Parliament, whose members were picked in direct elections throughout the nine European Community countries last month...
...political body that considers itself historic, the election of a victim of Nazism symbolized the enduring European reconciliation to which it is committed. Veil regularly tops the polls as the most popular political figure in France. In Strasbourg, it was hoped that her grass roots appeal could help the untested new Parliament make up with prestige and influence what it lacks in constitutional power...
...Veil has made a strong public impact ever since President Valery Giscard d'Estaing picked her from a senior judicial post to serve in his Cabinet in 1974. A mother of three, she strenuously campaigned against tobacco and notorious French alcoholism, liberalized rules governing contraception, and successfully led a long and bitter legislative campaign for legal abortion. The new "Euro-President" quickly gave the Parliament an early sample of the no-nonsense grit behind her gentle smile. When Protestant Ulster Unionist the Rev. Ian Paisley heckled Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch for delivering part of his speech in Irish...
...first matter on the agenda when the new Parliament convenes in Strasbourg on July 17 will be the choice of a president. Willy Brandt, who campaigned across the continent for his Socialist colleagues, had been considered the leading contender. In view of the center-right's strong showing, Veil was being touted by supporters as a more fitting choice. Former Belgian Premier Leo Tindemans, who heads the Parliament's powerful Christian Democratic group, meanwhile, was bidding for the informal post of majority leader of the coalition...