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FRANCE
France
Semi-Presidential System
Reconstruction began at the end of the war, in 1945, and confidence
in the future was brought back. With the baby boom
(which had started as soon as 1942) the birthrate surged rapidly.
It took several years to fix the damages caused by the war
– battles and bombing had destroyed several cities, factories,
bridges, railway infrastructures. 1,200,000 buildings were destroyed
or damaged.
In 1945, the provisional government of the French Republic,
led by Charles de Gaulle and made up of communists, socialists
and gaullists, nationalized key economic sectors (energy, air
transport, savings banks, assurances) and big companies (e.g.
Renault), with the creation of Social Security and of works
councils.A welfare state was set up. Economic planning was
initiated with the Commissariat général du Plan in 1946, led by
Jean Monnet. The first « Plan de modernisation et d’équipement
», for the 1947-1952 period, focused on basic economic
activities (energy, steel, cement, transports, agriculture equipment);
the second Plan (1954–1957) had broader aims: housing
construction, urban development, scientific research, manufacturing
industries.
Teo-Greece
The debts left over from the First World War, whose payment
had been suspended since 1931, was renegotiated in the
Blum-Byrnes agreement of 1946. The U.S. forgave all $2.8
billion in debt, and gave France a new loan of $650 million. In
return French negotiator Jean Monnet set out the French five
-year plan for recovery and development. American films
were now allowed in French cinemas three weeks per month
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