France
Country in western Europe, bounded to the northeast by Belgium, Luxembourg,
and Germany, east by Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, south by
the Mediterranean Sea, southwest by Spain and Andorra, and west
by the Atlantic Ocean.
Government
Under the 1958 Fifth Republic constitution, amended 1962 and 1995,
France has a two-chamber legislature and a `shared executive´
government. The legislature comprises a national assembly, with
577 deputies elected for five-year terms from single-member constituencies
following a two-ballot run-off majority system, and a senate,
whose 321 members are indirectly elected, a third at a time, triennially
for nine-year terms from groups of local councillors.
Twenty-two national-assembly and 13 senate seats are elected
by overseas départements (administrative regions) and territories,
and 12 senate seats by French nationals abroad. The national assembly
is the dominant chamber. The senate can temporarily veto legislation,
but its vetoes can be overridden by the national assembly.
France's executive is functionally divided between the president
and prime minister. The president, elected for a seven-year term
by direct universal suffrage after gaining a majority in either
a first or second run -off ballot, functions as head of state,
commander in chief of the armed forces, and guardian of the constitution.
The president selects the prime minister, presides over cabinet
meetings, countersigns government bills, negotiates foreign treaties,
and can call referenda and dissolve the national assembly (although
only one dissolution a year is permitted).
The prime minister is selected from the ranks of the national
assembly. According to the constitution, ultimate control over
policymaking rests with the prime minister and council of ministers.
The president and prime minister work with ministers from political
and technocratic backgrounds, assisted by a skilled and powerful
civil service. A nine-member constitutional council (selected
every three years in a staggered manner by the state president
and the presidents of the senate and national assembly, and serving
nine-year, nonrenewable terms) and a Conseil d'Etat (`council
of state´), staffed by senior civil servants, rule on the legality
of legislation passed. At the local level there are 21 regional
councils concerned with economic planning. Below these are 96
département councils and almost 36,000 town and village councils.
Corsica has its own directly elected 61-seat parliament with powers
to propose amendments to national-assembly legislation.
There are four overseas dé partements (French Guiana, Guadeloupe,
Martinique, and Ré union) with their own elected general and regional
councils, two overseas ` collective territories´ (Mayotte and
St Pierre and Miquelon) administered by appointed commissioners,
and four overseas territories (French Polynesia, the French Southern
and Antarctic Territories, New Caledonia , and the Wallis and
Futuna Islands) governed by appointed high commissioners, which
form constituent parts of the French Republic, returning deputies
to the national legislature.
History
The aftermath of World War II
Although Paris was physically undamaged in World War II, many cities,
such as Brest, Rouen, Lorient, Le Havre, and Caen, were in ruins.
The French had suffered considerable economic privations during
the years 1940-44; and France in 1944 was in the midst of an inflation
that was threatening the very existence of the middle class.
France's internal problems were not its only ones. The pre-1939
French colonial empire was on the verge of disintegration. Syria
and Lebanon had already achieved independence; the French West
Africa possessions were demanding at least a measure of self-government,
and some nationalists were calling for outright independence.
In Indochina (now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos) the communists
and other nationalists soon launched a full-scale war of independence
against France (the Indochina War). These colonial problems drained
France's economy severely in the postwar years and had considerable
repercussions on internal French politics.
Towards a new constitution
A constituent assembly charged with drawing up a constitution for a
Fourth Republic was elected in 1945, an election in which women
voted in France for the first time. The Communists were returned
as the strongest party because of their important role in the
wartime resistance, closely followed by the Socialists and a new
political organization known as the Mouvement Républicain Populaire
(MRP), a group of the progressive centre drawing considerable
strength from former Catholic resistance fighters.
When the constituent assembly met, Charles de Gaulle returned
to the people the powers he had exercised as head of the provisional
government formed at the liberation in 1944. Having been given
a new mandate, he formed a government drawn from the three main
parties, and pledged to implement a far- reaching social programme.
However, de Gaulle resigned in January 1946 because he did not
want to be a figurehead president in the manner of the Third Republic,
yet already found himself dependent on the political parties,
especially the Communists and Socialists.
Throughout 1946 France was searching for a new constitution.
The reconciliation of a sovereign legislature with a stable executive
was the stumbling block, though the seriousness of the country's
economic position clearly pointed to the need for a strong government.
A new constitution was eventually approved in a referendum in
October. Under the new constitution a second chamber, the Council
of the Republic, with members chosen by indirect election, was
given a voice, though not a decisive one, in the legislature;
the president was to be elected by the two chambers in joint session.
There were also provisions for the organization of the French
Union - the new term for France's depleted colonial empire.
The Fourth Republic (1946-58):
General characteristics and developments Despite attempts to correct
some of the flaws of the Third Republic, the new constitution
once again provided for a weak executive and a powerful national
assembly. With 26 impermanent governments being formed during
the period of the Fourth Republic, real power passed to the civil
service, which, by introducing a new system of ` indicative economic
planning´, engineered rapid economic reconstruction.
The peaceful decolonization of Morocco and Tunisia in 1956 and
the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1958
were also important achievements. In contrast, the forcible expulsion
of the French from Indochina in 1954 was for many a national humiliation,
and the bitter colonial conflict in Algeria was to bring about
the demise of the Fourth Republic itself.
The Blum government of 1946-47
In the November 1946 elections, which created the first national assembly
of the Fourth Republic, the Socialists fell to third place among
the leading parties. The Communists were still the strongest single
party, but the majority in the assembly was anticommunist. In
the new conditions of equipoise between Communists and the MRP,
the Socialists, despite their depleted numbers, secured the vital
position in the middle of the political seesaw, and it was in
these circumstances that in December Lé on Blum formed a purely
Socialist government.
Blum's stopgap government launched an attack on the price rises
and on financial instability. Attempts were also made to settle
the Indochinese question, where the French were attempting to
regain control of their colonies from the nationalists, who had
themselves ousted the Japanese- sponsored regime at the end of
World War II. The government also laid the foundations of a new
Anglo- French entente. On 16 January 1947 the assembly installed
as first president of the new republic the Socialist Vincent Auriol,
a close friend and colleague of Blum.
Governments and events from 1947 to 1957
Blum resigned for reasons of health and was succeeded by Paul Ramadier
(also Socialist), who headed a coalition. The change of government
did not interfere with the negotiations for a treaty of alliance
with the UK, and the treaty was eventually signed at Dunkirk on
4 March 1947. However, the economic situation was deteriorating,
and there soon appeared a deepening division in the government
between the Communists and the rest of the ministers.
This period was also marked by the formation of the Rassemblement
du Peuple Français (RPF, `rally of the French people´). The RPF
was an organization fostered by de Gaulle as a nationwide movement
of national union, and though he was accused by the left, especially
the Communists, of favouring reactionary elements, the movement
constituted a new and popular force that for a time materially
affected the political balance in France.
But meanwhile the economic situation was growing steadily worse.
The political situation was further weakened by the refusal of
the Communists to vote for the funding of military operations
against the nationalists in Indochina and to suppress a revolt
in Madagascar. The Communists then left the government in 1947.
In September 1948 a coalition under the Radical Socialist Henri
Queuille took office, and a period of relative political stability
followed. The following year France joined the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) as a founder member. In July 1949 Queuille's
government fell. There was a series of rapid changes of government
before political stability returned with Georges Bidault as premier.
By early 1950 the situation in Indochina was becoming extremely
serious. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny was appointed commander in
chief of the army and French high commissioner there in an attempt
to retrieve the situation; his subsequent premature death probably
put the seal on certain French defeat in the area. In May 1950
Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister, put forward his `Schuman
Plan´, which eventually developed into the European Coal and Steel
Community, the basis of what is now the European Union.
By mid-1951 many observers believed that de Gaulle's return
to power was imminent. After a temporary improvement, the economic
situation was weakening again, a bitter domestic battle was raging
on the question of state aid to church schools, and abroad the
Indochina crisis continued. In relation to the planned European
Defence Community there was considerable controversy in France
about whether a European army should include West German forces,
both because would involve the recreation of a German army, regarded
by many French people as synonymous with the recreation of German
`militarism´, and because it would subsume French forces within
a supranational army.
After a series of short-lived governments, René Pleven became
premier in August 1951, and was succeeded at the beginning of
1952 by Edgar Faure, a Radical Socialist. Faure reopened the question
of Tunisian independence, but his government lasted only a few
weeks, and in March 1952 Antoine Pinay, an Independent Republican,
succeeded him.
In July the Gaullists split on a question of party discipline,
and after this time de Gaulle's prospects of a return to power
receded rapidly, despite the country's blatant political instability,
illustrated by constant changes of government. In May 1953, conscious
of a loss of popular support, de Gaulle resigned from the leadership
of the RPF, and withdrew from politics.
After a prolonged period without a government, France got a
new premier, Laniel, in June 1953. In October 1953 the National
Assembly voted in favour of continuing the Indochina War, although
the French position there was rapidly becoming untenable. The
fall of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 shocked French public opinion
deeply, and the following month the government was defeated on
an Indochina issue.
The new premier was the Radical Socialist Pierre Mendès-France.
In July the fighting in Indochina was ended by agreement reached
at Geneva. This was generally regarded in France as a crushing
surrender; the 80-year French occupation of Indochina came formally
to an end on 29 April 1955. Mendès-France's North Africa policy
eventually led to his defeat in the assembly in February 1955,
and he was succeeded by Faure.
The Franco-Tunisian home rule agreements were signed in Paris
in June 1955, and in October the former Moroccan sultan, deposed
by the French two years earlier, was restored to his throne. But
by this time the bitter armed conflict between nationalists and
the French army and settlers in Algeria was becoming serious.
At home political stability and possibly the Fourth Republic itself
were temporarily threatened by the rise of the violently right-wing
poujadist movement, although its popularity was only transient.
The Saarland referendum in October, with its overwhelming victory
for the pro-German parties, was another blow to France. In November
Faure's government was defeated on a question of electoral reform.
The general elections of January 1956 produced an indecisive
result, but in February the Socialist Guy Mollet became premier.
Although governing with a precariously balanced coalition, he
was premier longer that any other holder of the office under the
Fourth Republic. Moroccan independence was announced in March
1956; but it was the increasingly critical Algerian situation
that was basically responsible for the defeat of Mollet's government
in June 1957, and of its successors.
At the beginning of 1958 the European Economic Community (EEC)
came into being. In March 1957 France had been one of the signatories
of the Treaty of Rome, which had established the EEC, but in 1958
it seemed that France would not be able to provide it with the
expected leadership. There was inflation and economic stagnation
at home, and the insoluble Algerian problem across the Mediterranean.
France appeared to be moving rapidly towards chaos.
The coming of the Fifth Republic
In May 1958 a revolt of French settlers and army officers in Algeria
against what they regarded as the effeteness of the government
in Paris and its handling of the Algerian war led to the overthrow
of the Fourth Republic. De Gaulle was swept back to power on a
wave of popular enthusiasm. He indicated that this time he must
be given the means to take whatever measures he deemed necessary
to save France, and his policies were approved by a referendum
in September. A new constitution establishing the Fifth Republic
came into force in October.
The de Gaulle era, 1958-69
In December 1958 de Gaulle was elected as the Fifth Republic's first
president, with wide executive powers. The franc was devalued,
and a series of drastic measures enacted, aimed at stabilizing
the economy. In the longer term, the de Gaulle era was one of
economic growth and large-scale rural-to-urban migration. The
relationship between France and its overseas possessions was reexamined:
those territories wishing to retain ties with France entered the
French Community, which had superseded the French Union. Guinea,
however, voted for separation from France and became an independent
state without French connections in October 1958. By 1961 so many
overseas possessions had gained independence within the French
Community that the Community itself was dissolved.
France's economy grew stronger through the succeeding years,
though some underlying weaknesses remained, and its foreign policy
developed distinctive traits. France took steps to become an independent
military nuclear power just when Britain was abandoning the role.
Although retaining friendly relations with Britain and the USA
at the start of his regime (he paid a successful state visit to
Britain in 1960 and had cordial talks in Paris with President
Kennedy in 1961), de Gaulle took the decisive step of actively
promoting closer Franco- German relations, and so officially ended
a period of hatred and mistrust between the two countries that
had been virtually continuous since 1870. Close economic and cultural
links were established between France and the German Federal Republic,
and in January 1963 de Gaulle and the German chancellor Konrad
Adenauer signed the Franco- German `reconciliation treaty´ in
Paris.
Meanwhile de Gaulle's decision that the Algerian problem could
be solved only by granting full independence to the nationalists
caused bitterness among the settlers and officers who had brought
him to power in the expectation that he would win the war there
for France. There were abortive revolts against de Gaulle in Algeria
in 1960 and 1961, and several attempts were made on his life,
then and later, by supporters of the Organisation de l'Armée Secrète
(OAS), which during 1960-61 carried out a systematic terrorist
campaign in both Algeria and France. As time passed it attracted
some of de Gaulle's foremost original supporters, such as Gen
Raoul Salan, Georges Bidault, and Jacques Soustelle, but by 1963
the OAS was a spent force. Algeria became independent in 1962,
after a referendum had approved de Gaulle's policy there.
Although there was at times considerable criticism of de Gaulle's
government, not merely among extremists but among moderates who
felt that he was riding roughshod over democratic principles,
his supporters won an overall majority over all other parties
in the elections in November 1962. Under de Gaulle, France dominated
the European Economic Community, and in January 1963 vetoed Britain's
application to join it. De Gaulle distrusted Britain's motives,
and was suspicious of Britain's ties with the USA at a time when
France was attempting to become the leader of a third ` European´
force, which would be independent of both the Soviet and the `Anglo-Saxon´
(Anglo-American) blocs. This pronouncedly independent line was
to show itself in France's withdrawal of its fleets from NATO
commands, in its first atomic- bomb test in 1960 and hydrogen-
bomb test in 1968, and in de Gaulle's outspoken criticism in 1965
of US policy in Vietnam.
In 1965 de Gaulle was reelected president under the new constitutional
arrangement whereby the president was chosen by universal suffrage.
However, the election was close: the first ballot failed to give
him an outright majority, and in the second ballot his left-wing
opponent Franç ois Mitterrand polled nearly 45% of the vote. De
Gaulle continued with his independent approach to foreign policy.
He took tough action with the EEC in the course of 1966, and in
the same year announced the French withdrawal from the integrated
military command of NATO, with complete withdrawal to occur in
1969. Nevertheless, de Gaulle's position seemed uncertain. His
paternalistic approach to domestic affairs, reflected in censorship
and centralization, brought about a public reaction, and in the
general elections of 1967 the Gaullists and the `right coalition´
won only a bare majority.
In May 1968 a student revolt, largely in the Latin Quarter of
Paris, was followed by the most extensive wave of strikes that
France had known since 1936. The government was severely shaken,
but de Gaulle recovered; the elections of 1968 returned an enormous
Gaullist majority, and a new phase of Gaullism seemed to be inaugurated
by the appointment of Maurice Couve de Murville as prime minister.
By November de Gaulle was in a sufficiently strong position to
refuse to devalue the franc. But the referendum of 1969, which
sought to reform the Senate and local government, went against
de Gaulle. He resigned in April 1969 and took no further part
in French public life.
Pompidou's presidency, 1969-74
De Gaulle's former prime minister Georges Pompidou was elected president
on de Gaulle's resignation. Pompidou maintained some Gaullist
principles in foreign policy, such as retaining independent possession
of nuclear weapons, the desire for understanding with communist
countries, and a critical attitude towards Israel. But he was
more subtle and more conciliatory in many spheres, particularly
towards Great Britain's membership of the EEC, which his meeting
with the British prime minister Edward Heath in 1971 made possible.
At home Pompidou was cautious. He was alarmed both by the increase
of left-wing support (as shown in the elections of 1973 that reduced
the Gaullist majority) and by the number of scandals affecting
Gaullist politicians. But France remained prosperous, and Pompidou
saw no threat to his position when he was stricken with illness
and died in April 1974.
Giscard's presidency, 1974-81
At first it seemed that Pompidou's successor would be the former Gaullist
prime minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas. But a revolt among certain
Gaullists, led by Jacques Chirac, and the prestige of Valéry Giscard
d'Estaing, leader of the centre-right Independent Republicans,
proved too much. In the second ballot Giscard d'Estaing rallied
most of the Gaullists and moderates, as well as the right wing,
to beat the Communist-Socialist coalition, led by Mitterrand,
which must also have received some Gaullist and moderate support.
Giscard attempted to present an informal image, and encouraged
the impression of a France governed by young and dynamic men and
women. In domestic policies he was too conservative to be an innovator,
but in social matters he emphasized the quality of life and sought
to improve conditions for women by laws that made it easier to
obtain divorce and abortion. He also lowered the minimum age of
voting from 21 to 18, relaxed censorship, and reformed the education
system. He followed Gaullist principles by insisting on the primacy
of French interests and of French nuclear weapons, but followed
Pompidou in being conciliatory and cautious. In the European Community
he played a more active and cooperative role than his predecessors.
Giscard faced opposition, however, from his `right coalition´
partner Jacques Chirac, who was prime minister 1974-76; he also
had to contend with deteriorating international economic conditions.
France performed better than many of its European competitors
in the period 1974-81, with the president launching a major nuclear-power
programme to save on energy imports and, while Raymond Barre was
prime minister (1976-81), a new, liberal `freer market´ economic
strategy. During this period the Union for French Democracy (UDF)
was formed to unite several centre-right parties. However, with
1.7 million unemployed, Giscard was defeated by Socialist Party
leader François Mitterrand in the 1981 presidential election.
Mitterrand and the `left coalition'
Mitterrand's victory was the first presidential success for the `left
coalition´ during the Fifth Republic, and was immediately succeeded
by a landslide victory for the Socialist Party (PS) and French
Communist Party (PCF) in the 1981 elections to the national assembly.
The new administration introduced a radical programme of social
reform, decentralization, and nationalization, and passed a series
of reflationary budgets aimed at reducing unemployment.
Financial constraints forced a switch towards a more conservative
policy of rigueur (`austerity´) in 1983. A U- turn in economic
policy was completed in 1984 when the prime minister, Pierre Mauroy,
was replaced by Laurent Fabius, prompting the resignation of Communist
members of the cabinet. An international scandal was created in
July 1985 when the ship Rainbow Warrior, belonging to the environmental
organization Greenpeace, whose opposition to nuclear testing annoyed
France, was sunk in New Zealand by French secret-service agents.
Unemployment rose to over 2.5 million in 1985-86, increasing racial
tension in urban areas. The extreme right-wing National Front,
led by Jean-Marie Le Pen, benefited from this and gained seats
in the March 1986 national assembly elections. The `left coalition
´ lost its majority, the PCF having been in decline for some years.
The PS, however, had emerged as France's single most popular party.
Mitterrand and Chirac
From 1958 to 1986 the president and prime minister had been drawn from
the same party coalition, and the president had been allowed to
dominate in both home and foreign affairs. In 1986 Mitterrand
was obliged to appoint as prime minister the leader of the opposition,
Jacques Chirac, who emerged as the dominant force in the `shared
executive´. Chirac introduced a radical `new conservative´ programme
of denationalization, deregulation, and `desocialization´, using
the executive's decree powers and the parliamentary guillotine
to steamroller measures through. His educational and economic
changes encountered serious opposition from militant students
and striking workers, necessitating embarrassing policy concessions.
Chirac was defeated by Mitterrand in the May 1988 presidential
election.
Rocard's progressive programme In the national assembly elections
of June 1988, the Socialists emerged as the largest single political
party. Mitterrand duly appointed Michel Rocard, a moderate social
democrat, as prime minister heading a minority PS government that
included several centre-party representatives. Rocard implemented
a progressive programme, aimed at protecting the underprivileged
and improving the quality of life. In June 1988 he negotiated
the Matignon Accord, designed to solve the New Caledonia problem,
which was later approved by referendum. Between 1988 and 1990
France enjoyed a strong economic upturn and attention focused
increasingly on quality of life, with the Green Party gaining
11% of the national vote in the European Parliament elections
of June 1989.
Racial tensions
Although the extreme-right National Front had been virtually eliminated
from the national assembly in 1988 by the reintroduction of single-
member constituencies, it continued to do well in municipal elections,
pressurizing the government into adopting a hard line against
illegal immigration. New programmes were announced for the integration
of Muslim immigrants - from Algeria, Tunisia, and other areas
with French colonial ties - into mainstream French society. Religious
and cultural tensions increased. A commission set up to look at
the problems of immigrant integration reported in 1991 that France's
foreign population was 3.7 million (6.8% of the population), the
same as in 1982. However, 10 million citizens were of `recent
foreign origin´.
The Gulf War
In September 1990, after Iraqi violation of the French ambassador's
residence in Kuwait, the French government dispatched 5,000 troops
to Saudi Arabia. Despite France's previously close ties with Iraq
(including arms sales), French military forces played a prominent
role within the US-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War. Defence
minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement resigned in February 1991 in
opposition to this strategy, but the majority of people in the
country - which has the largest Muslim population in western Europe
- supported the government's stance.
Mitterrand's popularity in decline
In April 1991 the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) and the
Union for French Democracy (UDF), France's main, usually factious,
right-of-centre opposition parties, signed a formal election pact.
In May, after disagreements over economic policy, Mitterrand replaced
Rocard with Edith Cresson, saying that her experience as a former
member of the European Parliament and minister for European affairs
would be important for France's future in Europe. Mitterrand became
the Fifth Republic's longest-serving president in September 1991.
However, with the economy in recession, racial tensions increasing,
discontent among farmers, militancy among public-sector workers,
and the reputation of the PS tarnished by a number of financial
scandals, Mitterrand's popularity fell from over 50% in September
1991 to barely 35% in January 1992.
By the close of 1991, the popularity rating of Cresson was the
lowest ever for a premier in the Fifth Republic, and in the March
1992 regional council elections the PS captured only 18% of the
national vote. Mitterrand appointed Pierre Béré govoy to replace
Cresson in April 1992. As finance minister, he had been blamed
by Cresson for the nation's economic troubles, but he was respected
by the country's financial community. In a referendum in September
1992 the Maastricht Treaty on European union was narrowly endorsed.
Balladur's premiership
The PS suffered a heavy defeat in the March 1993 national-assembly
elections, which were held during the midst of economic recession,
with the unemployment rate exceeding 10%. The PS's national poll
share was its lowest since the parliamentary election of 1968.
Mitterrand appointed Edouard Balladur of the conservative RPR
as prime minister, to head the second `cohabitation´ government
of his presidency. In the aftermath of the Socialists' defeat,
Bé régovoy committed suicide. Michel Rocard was chosen to replace
him as PS leader, but resigned in June 1994 after the Socialists
polled poorly in the European elections. He was replaced by Henri
Emmanuelli.
Balladur proved a popular prime minister but encountered opposition
to his tight immigration and privatization policies and his proposals
for local-government funding of private schools, which put him
at odds with President Mitterrand. His employment legislation,
reducing the minimum wage paid to young workers, was criticized
by unions and the Socialists, and he abandoned these proposals
after protest demonstrations were followed by a revival of the
left in local elections. With Mitterrand in failing health, Balladur
emerged as the dominant force in the `cohabitation´ administration,
compounding his popularity by engineering a recovery in the French
economy. However, in the autumn of 1994 his popularity rating
slumped after several of his ministers were implicated in corruption
scandals and resigned. Financial scandals also damaged the PS,
made worse by the revelation of the use of HIV-infected blood
in transfusions under earlier Socialist governments.
French influence in central Africa was severly weakened by the
fall of president Mobutu in Zaire, following the collapse in 1994
of the regime France had supported in Rwanda.
Chirac becomes president
Evidence of a split within the conservative RPR emerged in the run
-up to the 1995 presidential elections when it became clear that
both Jacques Chirac, former premier and party leader, and Prime
Minister Balladur intended to contest the presidency. Balladur,
whose reputation had suffered from his alleged involvement in
a telephone- tapping affair and his admission that he had profited
from share dealings, rapidly lost ground to Chirac, who presented
himself as a `man of the people´, promising action against ` social
exclusion´, more jobs, higher public-sector wages, and a more
relaxed economic policy to stimulate recovery. After the Socialists
took a surprising lead in the first ballot, Balladur dropped out
of the contest. Chirac, at the head of a `right coalition´, was
elected president in May, securing a comfortable majority over
the PS candidate Lionel Jospin. He appointed the former foreign
minister and pro-European Alain Juppé as prime minister, and began
his presidency with the controversial announcement that France
planned to resume nuclear-weapons testing in the Pacific region.
The decision to resume nuclear testing was widely condemned
and the first test on Mururoa atoll provoked anticolonial riots
in Tahiti. At home, national security measures were announced
in the wake of a terrorist bombing campaign mounted by Algerian
guerrillas, and the position of Juppé appeared under threat owing
to his implication in a housing scandal. Significant amendments
to the constitution were approved in July 1995, but by the end
of the year popular support for President Chirac had slumped dramatically,
with nationwide public- sector strikes - the worst since 1968
- in November and December bringing the nation's transport system
to a virtual standstill.
Events in 1996-97
In January 1996 the government announced an end to its nuclear- weapons
testing programme in the south Pacific and called for a worldwide
test ban. In March a treaty with the USA and Britain was signed
that made the south Pacific a nuclear-free zone. In the same month
former defence minister François Lé otard replaced Giscard as
head of the centre-right UDF, the junior partner in the ruling
coalition. The future abolition of conscription was announced
in February in a programme to create a streamlined, professional
army.
Pledging a reduction in the country's fiscal deficit and a commitment
to a single European currency, in August the government agreed
to cut government spending by 2% in real terms in 1997 in an effort
to qualify for European Monetary Union in 1999, in spite of high
unemployment and lack of growth in the economy.
In May 1996 a fresh outbreak of terrorist violence by the outlawed
National Corsican Liberation Front ended the truce called in January
and jeopardized future talks with the French government. In December
François Santoni, leader of the hardline Corsican separatist A
Cuncolta Naziunalista wing of the front, was captured by French
police, but the organization continued to mount a wave of bombings
in Corsica and Nice in January 1997.
Led by prominent intellectuals and artists, more than 100,000
people marched through Paris on 22-23 February 1997 to protest
against a proposed new law to control illegal immigration. The
protesters' principal objection was to a clause that would toughen
a requirement for certain foreign visitors to obtain a `lodging
certificate´ before entering France.
In March 1997 unemployment reached a postwar record of 12.8%
of the workforce). However, the rise was slowing and the economy
was beginning to pick up. This persuaded President Chirac to announce
in late April that a general election would be held a year early.
His intention was that the government should receive a mandate
to carry out further austerity measures that would enable France
to meet the financial targets required for membership of a European
single currency in 1999, and would assure Chirac a majority in
the national assembly until the end of his presidential term.
His tactic backfired, however, when the elections were won by
the Socialists, who opposed the previous government's austerity
measures. The Socialist leader Lionel Jospin became prime minister
in June 1997. His left- wing coalition government claimed victory
in French regional elections mid-March 1998, but fell short of
the sweeping successes it had expected. Although the far-right
National Front (FN) fell short of the record nationwide score
predicted by opinion polls, it seemed to have matched, or slightly
exceeded, the 15 % it achieved in the 1997 parliamentary election.
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