ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the parliamentary progress of five bills: one delegating to the government power to legislate against alcoholism and other ’social scourges’; one financial measure extending the scope of the value-added tax; a reform of the law of adoption; a fairly mild proposal concerning the right to strike; and a major reorganization of the State broadcasting and television service, ORTF. The privilege of the bouilleurs de cru, which allows owners of fruit trees to distil a small quantity of tax-free alcohol for their private use, was widely extended in the twentieth century. The value-added tax was almost universally approved by responsible extra-parliamentary opinion on both Left and Right. The adoption bill is a case of effective cooperation on a matter arousing little political passion; the strike bill, of fairly straightforward political conflict; ORTF, of constructive compromise among the parliamentarians even in a party battle—though in the end the government successfully called on its followers to obey the whip.
