They Were Not Kidding

The Premier outlines a sweeping blueprint for Socialist reform

"We will do exactly what we said we would dono more no less." With those words, spoken from the gilded rostrum of France's National Assembly last week, Socialist Premier Pierre Mauroy unveiled his government's program for transforming the country's social and economic landscape. The only real surprise was Mauroy's determination, at the behest of President Franc,ois Mitterrand, to act quickly on the basic planks of the Socialists' electoral platform: nationalization of banks and a number of industries, decentralization of the nation's administrative machinery, and reform of the tax and judiciary systems.

As Mauroy outlined his sweeping plans, the opposition benches occasionally emitted yelps of protest, but they were usually drowned out by applause from the Socialists. Mauroy taunted the center-right deputies good-humoredly: "I understand how difficult it must be for you in the opposition. We were there for 23 years."

The opposition rallied to the attack during the six hours of debate that followed Mauroy's speech. Francois Ceyrac, a spokesman for Big Business, later summed up the criticism: "Nationalizations are an economic absurdity that threatens to become a catastrophe for the French economy."

But rhetorical protests were sure to fail in an Assembly where leftists hold 288 of the 491 seats. Mauroy's proposals were finally approved by a solid 302-to-147 vote, with the rest abstaining.

With the number of unemployed now at 1.8 million (7.2%) and rising, Mauroy told the Deputies that his government's overriding objective was to "put France to work" through a unified national effort. Among the points he outlined:

NATIONALIZATIONS. Most of the remaining private banks, some 200 in all, will come under direct state control as soon as the enabling legislation goes to the Assembly in the fall. The Socialists will move to take over eleven major industrial groups, including the Dassault-Breguet aviation conglomerate, two steel companies, two chemical conglomerates, two high-technology firms and an electronics corporation. Three companies would be exempted from peremptory nationalization because of their significant foreign shareholdings: CII-Honeywell Bull (47% U.S.-owned), International Telephone and Telegraph Corp.'s French subsidiaries (99% U.S.-owned) and Roussel Uclaf Pharmaceuticals (57% West German-owned). The government will soon begin special negotiations with these firms on the terms of their eventual takeover. In general, said Mauroy, non-French shareholders would have a choice of cashing in now, selling their assets to the state next fall, or retaining a stake in the Socialist experiment. The announcement caused no undue panic: the French stock exchange actually posted a 2.2% gain following Mauroy's speech.

UNEMPLOYMENT. The Premier announced a two-year program to create more jobs by investing more public money in selected industries. In addition, some 210,000 low-level employees would be hired by government agencies.

TAXES. Although it specified no figures, the government wants to increase the tax burden of the wealthier sectors of French society to pay for expanded social services.

DECENTRALIZATION. Mauroy confirmed that the government would dismantle the Napoleonic system of having the Minister of the Interior appoint the administrators of France's 95 regional governments. They would be replaced by locally elected assemblies.

To the cheers of even many opposition members, Mauroy ended with a description of France's emerging foreign policy that in some ways appeared more staunchly pro-Western than that of former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing. The U.S. and the NATO countries, he said, were "in the first rank of our allies." At the same time, Mauroy sharply condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and warned against intervention in Poland--a statement that reduced the government's four Communist ministers, who had been applauding earlier remarks, to glum and awkward silence.

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