European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 7, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes May 1985 columns Flora Lewis winds of change Are engulfing the fifth Republic the French where the socialists have an absolute majority thanks to the old election Law of one representative per has just changed the legislative elections due next Spring will be by proportional representation in each of the 95 depart this will bring a profound change in the French political it has been called because it will still be the fifth Republic established by the late Charles de Gaulle but it wont be at All the governments will have to be built on the multiplicity of parties and their which Sank the fourth will be Cru Cial nothing the socialist government has done so far is Likely to have such an enduring French foreign including relations with is not at Issue but chances Are that Clear lines will grow blurred in Domestic Polit ical the trouble stems from a flaw in the French a hybrid of the traditional parliamentary system and the system of a directly elected president who is also chief the French president has vast pow greater than the american presi Dent because he can dissolve the Assem Bly at forcing deputies to face new he names the prime but if his Choice and his policies cant command a legislative its a there is no Rule for a or a Way to override no Clear definition of the relation Between legislative and executive the critical test has never come since the Start of the fifth Republic in one Way or the president Al ways managed to command the Par usually forcing it to be a rub Ber in but the moment of truth is president Francois Mitterrand attempt to Avert it is the reason for the electoral he and his socialist party have lost they dont have a Hope of hold ing their or even of rebuilding a majority with their erstwhile communist coalition now on a historic course of Mitterrand term lasts until so the big question is How he can manage to gov Ern after 1986 nothing in the Constitution would oblige him to and even old time gaullist who cant stand him dislike the idea of forcing a president it would undermine the Gau Wiist concept of personal authority at the and reinforce the game of a change Back to proportional rep the method of election in the fourth was always in the socialist but now Mitterrand sees it As an immediate since it is Likely to prevent a switch to an overwhelming majority for the oppose Elysee Palace Hopes that Reform will produce the opening for a Compro Mise left centrist details of the new system avoid the worst defects of proportional represent which tends to fragment the Politi Cal spectrum and make government major parties will smaller now including the com Are Likely to do even less Well than under the existing system with its provision for second round which encourages trades with the question of presidential Par Liam entry relations is made trickier than the French have come to Call it former prime min ister Raymond who Doest have a party of his own to offer for a Deal with denounces cohabitation and any idea of a coalition with the he wants to drive Mitter Rand out former prime minister Jacques who Heads the says parliamentary winners should move into the House of Power and leaving the president to accommodate his antagonistic former presi Dent Valery Giscard Destain though he has made a Deal to Combine his support with Chirac if they win a joint All this is really about jockeying for Posi Tion in the 1988 presidential per Sonal rivalries and ambitions dominate the behind the High sounding rhetoric about the Fate of the Republic and whether or not socialist party policies should be quickly but there is a real turning Point coming for France that will transform its ins Titu governments Are Likely to grow some frenchmen Welcome Relief from the right left polarization that the present system theres Little Chance of reinforcing the and More risk of steamy from France seems to be trudging on the storms Are c new York times Syndicate Mary Mcgrory Congress should eliminate the sent urls Dinosaur you might think that president the uns Leeping enemy of government the would be Slayer of free spending Federal would be leading the charge to culminate the synfuel you might also think that the chairman of the Senate budget Peter who is crouched Over the Federal budget trying to squeeze out every would fall upon synfuel As a candidate for David the director of the office of management and Gimle eyed Monitor of profligate welfare cheats and greedy thinks the synfuel is a waste but he negotiated its survival with interested senators last you would that the House demo cratic Ever ready to pounce on Reagan for partiality to the would be poised to strike at an Agency that Doles out billions to most of which pay no that is not the House speaker Thomas told the president last year of the support the Cifer Ous and important Champion in the synfuel is like the it deserves to its Strong est advocates cannot say a Good word for and the arguments made for it Are not made on the in a dear colleague letter that stressed Energy ind Epen with the other synfuel is an american using amerian Energy american workers and american like the my advocates who took the argument to synfuel partisans Are making the Case in the Straits of which might be closed because of the Ira Iraq synfuel was conceived by Jimmy Carter in the Depths of his malaise Over the Gas lines of the iranian hostage it was intended to a be a crash project to overcome americas dependence on foreign imports and to produce cheap alternative Energy from a project that was 90 percent Complete when synfuel stepped there had been barrels of scandal five members of the Board had to resign because of conflict of horror stories about High High living and bad judgment one example synfuel gave a letter of intent for million in loan and Price guarantees to an entrepreneur for a tar Sands Only to discover that the richest deposits Lay at the Bottom of a Lake and the Enterprise would require strip mining in a state Park in Santa if the same kind of Means test proposed for student Loans were the synfuel faucet would go Dow chemical was awarded Price guarantees of million for a Plant that Cost Dows profits for 1981 through 1983 were last a couple of determined House Mike and Howard d managed to Cut the Agency allowance by leaving it still with billion to bestow on this with the help of two influential House members John chairman of the House Energy and Commerce and William Gray of the House budget com Mittee Synar and Wolpe Are going in for the one of their principal opponents is the new vice chairman of Thomas As an Illinois was an eloquent in an open letter to the synfuel Board in october Corcoran the idea of a commercial synthetic fuels Industry is the kind of fantasy from which government boondoggles Are but Corcoran was appointed vice chairman of the Board by and is now lobbying hard to keep synfuel he claims that with a scale Down mandate and synfuel will do what it should have done in the first place conduct research into the technology rather than try to Rush synfuel products into the in a recent debate with Wolpe said that the new reality outlined by Corcoran jul pro vide no comforts for the by offering Price supports to Small scale projects that May never be economically you run the risk of creating a corporate entitlement Wolpe contends that everything synfuel is supposed to do can be better and More economic in the department of which by the one of the pestilential Federal agencies that Candi Date in vowed to Send to the c 1985 Universal press Syndicate tub of win make Sav it