New Face of Austerity

Edouard Balladur got right down to business: at his first Cabinet meeting, the new French Prime Minister ordered his 29 ministers to trim their own operating budgets 10% as a first step toward slashing a projected $55 billion deficit. President Francois Mitterrand named Gaullist Deputy Balladur to lead the government following elections that gave the conservative alliance 460 of the 577 National Assembly seats, leaving Mitterrand's Socialists with only 54 seats.