Rigor, the New Paradigm

With dirigisme driving France to rack and ruin and leading to inflation of 13.4% in 1981 and 11.8% in 1982, an about-turn became a pressing financial necessity. Eager to go down in the annals of history, François Mitterrand realized that helping European construction was a safer legacy than advancing social progress on credit. This would see France return to the market economy. No longer would it tread in the footsteps of the USSR, but reintegrate the European fold. On March 23, 1983, on his return from the European Council in Brussels, Mitterrand gave a televised address, in which he stated that after “achieving more reforms and more social progress in a few months than France had seen in half a century,” it was now necessary “to clinch victory on three fronts: unemployment, inflation and foreign trade.” Yet, communist measures were still taken: the so-called carnet de change, used to record foreign currency purchases by individuals, was reintroduced. The foreign exchange allowance for an adult going on holiday abroad was reduced by 670 euros for 1983. The Law of January 4, 1984, on the activity and control of credit institutions gave birth to the universal bank, the nowadays prevailing model.