Word: premier
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...Third World. While a French worker takes 11.2 hours to produce a ton of steel, the same job is done in Germany in 7.9 hours and in Japan in 5.9 hours. That is partly because French plants have antiquated machinery requiring greater manpower. A more productive steel industry, the Premier argues, "is a matter of survival for France...
Barre's attempts to follow the West German example have provoked an alarming resurgence of anti-German rhetoric. Michel Debre, who served as De Gaulle's Premier from 1959 to 1962, blamed France's economic troubles on the European Community, which is "too easily manipulated by our German competitors−I say competitors, not partners." The Communists have been even more demagogic. "What the Germans couldn't get in 1914 and 1939 they are conquering today," complained Jean Gillet, a member of the Communist-dominated CGT union...
Despite growing political opposition, the Premier is in no immediate danger of losing his job. Chirac, who had convened the emergency parliamentary session in order to embarrass Giscard, was quickly outmaneuvered last week. When the Socialists and Communists called for a no-confidence motion against the coalition government, Chirac was reluctantly forced to support Barre. The leftists, whose family quarrels contributed heavily to their defeat in last year's elections, are still divided. The Communist and Socialist parties could not agree even on the wording of a no-confidence motion, with the result that the two parties produced their...
Nonetheless, the French people show little confidence in Barre. The Premier got a 36% approval rating in a poll last week, a drop of 9% in the past year. Clearly, Barre's tough economic remedies will have to be carried out with more sensitivity and imagination if he is to avoid fulfilling a prophecy by Communist Leader Georges Marchais: The people, if not the parliament, will one day reject Barre's policies...
...Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain and Jack London described so affectionately. More than 75% of the island is gloriously uninhabited and is likely to remain so. Only 2,650 acres are zoned for resort use, while 242,408 acres are reserved for cropland. Sugar cane is Maui's premier crop, yielding some 200,000 tons of sugar a year, the world's highest per-acre yield; the third biggest crop is pineapple. The second most valuable crop? Pakalalo, a.k.a. marijuana. Grown illicitly, of course, in rain forests and cane fields that are well-nigh impossible to police, Maui...