new benefit was introduced for unemployed workers who had exhausted their eligibility for unemployment insurance. In December 1982, a law was passed that restored to workers the right to elect administrators to social security funds, which had been eliminated by Charles De Gaulle in 1967. François Mitterrand continued to promote the new technologies initiated by his predecessor Valéry Giscard d'Estaing: the TGV high speed train and the Minitel, a pre-World Wide Web interactive network similar to the web. The Minitel and the Paris-Lyon TGV line were inaugurated only a few weeks after the election. In addition, Government grants and loans for capital investment for modernisation were significantly increased. François Mitterrand passed the first decentralization laws, the Defferre Act. After two years in office, François Mitterrand made a substantial u-turn in economic policies, with the March 1983 adoption of the so-called "tournant de la rigueur" (austerity turn). Priority was given to the struggle against inflation in order to remain competitive in the European Monetary System. Although there were two periods of mild economic reflation (first from 1984 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1990), monetary and fiscal restraint was the essential policy orientation of François Mitterrand's presidency from 1983 onwards. Nevertheless, compared to the OECD average, fiscal policy in France remained relatively expansionary during the course of the two François Mitterrand presidencies. Social policy In 1983, all members of the general pension scheme obtained the right to a full pension at the age of 60 payable at a rate of half the reference wage in return for 37.5 years contribution. The government agreed at the same time to improve the pension position of some public sector employees and to increase the real value of the minimum pension. In addition, later negotiations brought retirement at 60 years into the occupational schemes although the financial terms for doing so could only be agreed for a 7-year period. A comparison between 1981 and 1986 showed that the minimum state pension had increased by 64% for a couple and by 81% for one person. During that same period, family allowances had increased by 71% for three children and by 112% for two children. In addition, the single-parent allowance for mothers or fathers with one child had been increased by 103% and for two or more children by 52% for each child In order to mark the importance of the problems of the elderly, the