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FRANCE 1 Introduction Official name: French Republic Area: 543 965 square kilometres Population: 57,5 Mio. Capital: Paris Language: French Religion: the majority are Catholics the French, 800 000 are Protestant, 2,5 Mio. are Muslims, 550 000 are Jews Government: Democracy Head of State: President Jacques Chirac (RPR) 2 Political structure Legal system: Codified Roman law system; constitution of 1958 Electoral system: Universal suffrage; two-round voting system for the National Assembly Head of state: President, directly elected for a five-year term, currently Jacques Chirac (RPR), re-elected in May 2002 3 Economic structure - The French economy is exceptionally diversified - The conurbation of Toulouse has overtaken Bordeaux in size and, thanks to Airbus and its 500 or so local sub-contractors, is the centre of a thriving aerospace industry - Largely because of the planned expansion of Airbus\'s manufacturing activities (in particular the assembly of the giant A-380), the population of the department of the Haute-Garonne, with Toulouse at its centre, is projected to rise from 1.05m in 1999 to 1.56m in 2030 4 History in brief - Celts, Greeks and other peoples had colonised Gaul (ancient France) when the Romans politically unified the region in the 1st century BC - In 1958 Charles de Gaulle, the former Free French leader, returned to politics, quelling the Algeria crisis and establishing the Fifth Republic 5 Appendix Vocabularies appendix : Anhang suffrage : Stimmrecht currently : zur Zeit obtain : erhalten value : Wert output : Ausgabe supplies : Versorgungen predominance : Übermacht pronounced : ausgesprochen wide-ranging manufacturing : weitreichende Herstellung conurbation's : Ballungsgebiete abolition : Abschaffung reign : Herrschaft ravaged : geplündert guarantee : Garantie effort : Bemühung unprecedented : beispiellos
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