A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

e of Chirac 's oldest friends , a modest man without presidential aspirations or

 thundering charisma , to take the job of prime minister , the nation 's second-

most-powerful job . That way , they figured , Chirac would be free to run for pr

esident while the mild-mannered Balladur , a seasoned politician , attempted to 

`` cohabit '' with Mitterrand and grapple with the domestic problems . But Balla

dur has , in just a year on the job , become the odds-on favorite to replace Mit

terrand , a Socialist , in the country 's highest office . The 65-year-old prime

 minister 's popularity has baffled political analysts , journalists and even hi

s own colleagues . Analysts say Balladur 's popularity stems , in part , from hi

s relative anonymity . Although a career government official , whose jobs includ

ed chief of staff to President Georges Pompidou in the 1970s , Balladur was not 

well known to most voters . And many in France were looking for a fresh face . B

alladur is known for his formality and his courtesy . As he sat for a rare inter

view at Matignon , the prime minister 's office on the Left Bank of Paris , he w

ore a tailored , Saville Row suit and kept the jacket buttoned . Born in Turkey 

to a well-to-do French banker , Balladur earned a degree from the Ecole National

e d' Administration , the school of France 's bureaucratic elite . He understand

s English , but prefers to speak in French . `` I have a complex with English , 

'' he explained . `` I don't like to appear ridiculous . '' Though an unabashed 

protector of things French , the prime minister is fond of the United States and

 Americans . Under his guidance , the government is spending millions of dollars

 this year on D-Day landing ceremonies . And , at the government 's invitation ,

 President Clinton will become only the second foreigner in decades to address P

arliament next month . Question : Many Americans are beginning to believe that F

rance wants to close its cultural doors to competition . What 's your feeling ? 

Answer : Yes . Yesterday , Ted Turner was in this office and we talked about tha

t . I think there is one thing that must be understood : We are strongly against

 a uniform world culture with one single world language . We the French consider

 that we have a great culture and a great civilization language and that it 's p

erfectly legitimate that we should defend our culture . I forget what the exact 

percentages are , but American films have much more than 50 percent of the Frenc

h market . And French films in the United States are just a few percentage point

s . So I think really the question is for me to put to you . Q : The question is

 , though , can you protect it by legislation , by law ? A : I think one can , y

es . And it 's our firm intention to do so . Now , this brings up a problem . It

 's really a problem of principle . Should world progress only spring from the l

aw of the markets ? And that applies to everything . Economy , trade , culture .

 If that is the case , then nations are no longer of any use . We could just `` 

leave it to nature , ` ` so to speak . As you know , the tendency of nature is t

hat the strongest become stronger , and the weakest become weaker . The basis of

 civilizations is their struggle against nature . That is the basis of education

 , of religion , of democracy , of law . So , it is a civilization endeavor that

 we are engaged in . It 's a bit of a paradox . Q : What baffles many Americans 

is why France , such a powerful country and with such a rich culture , needs law

s to protect its culture and its language . The French didn't need to protect th

eir culture in the 19th Century . A : There are two different aspects . First is

 the language and , secondly , there is what you might call the cultural industr

y . As for the language itself , this is not something new we are doing . Three 

and a half centuries ago , the Academie Francaise was set up ( to protect the la

nguage ) . It 's not something my government has thought up that is new . One ha

s to have an open mind on this . Words like le weekend are part of the French la

nguage now . The only thing is , you shouldn't overdo this . When the precise Fr

ench word exists , there 's no point in not using it . Q : And culture ? A : Wha

t is more interesting , really , is the cultural industry , the cultural economy

 , if you like . You 're perfectly right . In the 19th century , this wasn't nec

essary , nor at the beginning of the 20th century . But cultural activity has be

come a very big consumer product . It 's true of books , films , shows . It need

s a market to live . ( Begin optional trim ) And a country whose territory isn't

 big enough needs to help those cultural activities , to give them what the mark

et cannot provide . It 's a problem you don't have in the United States , becaus

e the market is already there . You have almost 300 million consumers of cultura

l products . But it is a problem in Europe , and especially in European countrie

s that don't use English as a national language . The inadequacy of the market h

as caused a certain number of film industries to almost completely disappear in 

Europe . Luckily , the French film industry still exists , but I think it exists

 only thanks to this machinery that we have . And that 's why you have to correc

t market forces . ( End optional trim ) If we had a Francophone market with 300 

million people , then we wouldn't need to have this machinery . But your product

s and your cultural activities already pay for themselves in the U.S. market , a

nd , therefore , they can be exported at a very low cost . We can't do that . So

 I think it 's a consequence of the fact that France is smaller than the United 

States , both in geographical terms and in population . Q : Clint Eastwood was r

ecently honored by the French culture minister for his work in films . That kind

 of thing is confusing to many Americans . The French seem to like Hollywood fil

ms , but the government seems to not want them to like those films . A : That 's

 not at all it . First of all , Clint Eastwood wouldn't have had his declaraton 

if the government hadn't agreed . But you need both . We like American films . I

 'm very fond of American films and American actors and actresses . There are so

me very fine actors . But it doesn't mean that they should be the only ones on t

he screens . They have a monopoly . We also were a very powerful country in the 

past , and our tendency at the time , probably , was also to consider that Frenc

h language and French culture excluded all others . Now history has moved . Thin

gs have changed . And things will go on changing . One day you ( Americans ) may

 have to defend yourself against Chinese films . Q : Speaking of that reduction 

in French power . Is it difficult for the French to accept a lesser role in worl

d affairs ? A : I think the French people have gotten used to this for a number 

of years . But at the same time , I think at the heart of every Frenchman there 

is a feeling that his civilization has a worldwide value . It 's a heritage we g

et from the French Revolution . At the heart of all French men and women is the 

feeling , perhaps , that they embody an international value , related to princip

les , to rules , to laws , to behavior . If you look at our colonial past , it e

ssentially consisted of seeing to it that the largest possible number of populat

ions were able to join the French model of civilization . ( Begin optional trim 

) There are two ways of looking at that phenomenon . You can say that it was gen

erosity , if you like . But you can also say it was a sort of imperialism . You 

can say both and there probably is a bit of truth in both , anyway . So , basica

lly , France considers that she has a special mission in the service of peace an

d human rights . That doesn't mean she always fulfills that mission in a proper 

way , but she tries to do it . ( End optional trim ) Q : A few months ago , Pres

ident Clinton suggested that America should try to strengthen its economic ties 

with Asia rather than focus only on Europe . Does that worry you ? A : I do not 

share your analysis . If he shows a bigger overture to Asia , such an evolution 

seems to me to be natural . It 's the same for us . We are more interested in As

ia than 10 years ago . It should not be interpreted as U.S. disinterest in Europ

e . We often forget in Europe that a seashore of your country is turned toward t

he Pacific , and that your interest in Asia is ancient and constant . But it doe

s not constitute an alternative to the privileged relations that have to go on b

etween the two seashores of the Atlantic . Q : How are relations between France 

and the United States at the moment ? A : I am satisfied by the state of Franco-

American relations now , and optimistic about their future . France and the Unit

ed States base their relations on identical , fundamental interests . We have al

ways found solutions to our temporary problems without affecting the privileged 

character of our alliance , which has seen our countries side by side in major c

rises . This was true in the time of Gen . ( Charles ) de Gaulle , during the Cu

ban missile crisis , and it was even more true during the Gulf War . The celebra

tion of D-Day in Normandy next month will give us the opportunity to again celeb

rate an important page of our common history .

 MIAMI Pledging to make cigarette manufacturers pay , Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles

 ( D ) signed legislation this week that authorizes the state to sue makers of t

obacco producers for the billions the state spent caring for sick smokers . The 

controversial bill is being hailed by anti-smoking advocates as the ultimate clu

b to wield against tobacco companies , a `` smart bomb '' that allows the state 

to initiate a sweeping class-action suit to recoup state Medicaid money spent on

 patients suffering from illnesses associated with smoking . `` This law brings 

about the greatest change in the liability of the tobacco companies in the last 

50 years , '' said Matthew Myers , counsel for the Coalition on Smoking or Healt

h in Washington , which represents the national heart , lung and cancer societie

s . If Florida succeeds in defending its legislation in a special session of the

 legislature June 7 and in the courts and then sues the tobacco industry , other

 states will almost surely follow . Mississippi , without the benefit of new leg

islation , this week sued the tobacco industry to recoup its costs of treating s

mokers . The tobacco industry vows to fight the legislation in a special legisla

tive session , which was called to deal with health care reforms . `` We 're vie

wing this has a very serious situation. .. . They ought to repeal it , '' said B

rennan Dawson , spokesperson for the Tobacco Institute in Washington . `` The bi

ll says don't do business in the state of Florida . You can't defend yourself . 

'' The tobacco industry has allies in Florida 's strongest business lobby , whos

e leaders warn that the new legislation exposes other industries such as liquor 

to costly litigation . The legislation does not single out tobacco , though that

 is the industry that Chiles says the bill was designed to tackle . `` For decad

es now , tobacco companies have turned an enormous profit while their victims ha

ve turned to the taxpayers for treatment , '' Chiles said Thursday at the bill s

igning . `` It 's time that those responsible are made to pay . '' The bill is t

he brainchild of Harold Lewis , general counsel for Florida 's Agency for Health

 Care Administration . Lewis said he designed the bill to take away the most pow

erful arguments the tobacco industry has traditionally used to defend itself aga

inst lawsuits . Under the legislation , cigarette manufacturers will no longer b

e able to argue that smokers knew of risks , either from the surgeon general 's 

reports or from the warnings on cigarette packs because it is the state that is 

suing , not the smokers . `` The state is the innocent victim , '' said Lewis . 

`` The state didn't smoke the cigarettes . The state didn't read the warnings on

 the cigarette packs .. . But the state has to pay the bills . '' Chiles said th

at Florida taxpayers have spent at least $ 1.2 billion in Medicaid payments over

 the last five years for smoke-related illness , including lung cancer and emphy

sema . Lewis also wrote the legislation in such a way that tobacco manufacturers

 will no longer be able to argue that smoking did not cause a specific illness i

n a specific person . The new legislation enables Florida to rely on statistical

 evidence that cigarettes caused sickness . The state will simply tally the numb

er of Medicaid patients who are treated for illnesses commonly associated with s

moking , and then seek compensation from the tobacco companies for the state 's 

health care costs . The state need not even name plaintiffs , nor does it need t

o show that those patients smoked one or another company 's brands . If found li

able , the companies would simply be assigned shares of the blame based on their

 shares on the cigarette market in Florida . Lewis said the idea of litigating b

ased on market share has been used in product liability cases for breast implant

s and asbestos . Tobacco industry advocates charge that the new legislation was 

slipped through without any real understanding by legislators . The bill passed 

as an amendment to a large Medicaid fraud bill and was voted on without debate o

r hearings . Lewis , however , contends the bill circulated for some 29 hours : 

`` That 's an eternity '' in the Florida legislature , he said . Jon Shebel , pr

esident of Associated Industries , the state 's most powerful business lobby , s

aid Friday that Chiles has already signaled that he would narrow the new legisla

tion to target only tobacco manufacturers . Shebel went even further , suggestin

g that the bill might be repealed if Chiles could get the tobacco industry to co

ntribute money to offset Florida 's Medicaid costs . `` He wants them to put mon

ey into Medicaid system , '' Shebel said . `` That 's really what the governor w

ants . ''

 A delegation of cardinals Friday officially presented to Pope John Paul II the 

English version of the new Catechism of the Catholic Church , the first universa

l book of the church 's teachings in 428 years . Disagreements over references t

o men , women and the holy Trinity had delayed publication for more than a year 

. The Vatican rejected early drafts by the American translators and insisted on 

retaining references to `` men '' rather than `` men and women '' or `` the huma

n race '' in referring to humanity . The 803-page compendium of faith an outgrow

th of the Vatican II council of 1962 to 1965 is an all-purpose guide that reaffi

rms the abiding principles of Roman Catholic doctrine and practice and applies t

hem to some of the most painful dilemmas of modern life . It upholds the authori

ty of the church hierarchy and restates the church 's strong prohibitions agains

t premarital sex , abortion , euthanasia and divorce . Its condemnation of homos

exuality is tempered by a call for `` respect , compassion and sensitivity '' to

ward gay people and a rejection of `` unjust discrimination . '' The book condem

ns the arms race and states that employers who neglect to pay adequate wages to 

their workers or engage in tax fraud commit `` a grave injustice . '' And it sta

tes that Muslims and Jews are among believers who are eligible for salvation a m

ajor shift from the old , discredited catechism of the 16th Century Council of T

rent . The pope , who received the new catechism in the hospital room where he i

s recovering from hip surgery , called the translation `` faithful '' to the Fre

nch original he approved Dec. 8 , 1992 . He said in a statement that the new tex

t fulfills a need `` of millions of English-speaking faithful .. . seeking a ful

l and balanced exposition of the Catholic truth professed , celebrated , lived a

nd prayed by the Church throughout the world . '' The presenters included Cardin

al Bernard F . Law , archbishop of Boston , who introduced the idea of a new com

pendium of faith at an international conference of bishops in 1985 . The pope ap

proved the plan and appointed an oversight commission that included Law and Arch

bishop William J. Levada , of Portland , Ore . The catechism was translated last

 year into German , Spanish and Italian . Although it will not be published offi

cially until June 22 , the new text is already an instant bestseller among the n

ation 's 59 million Catholics . The first printing of more than 560,000 has sold

 out . A second printing of at least 100,000 will begin June 13 for delivery in 

July . The U.S. Catholic Conference Office of Publishing and Promotion Services 

, which holds the American rights for the English text , has signed on 15 other 

companies as co-publishers to ensure the widest circulation possible . Catholic 

leaders expressed delight that the English version is finally available . `` The

re has not been a comparable Catholic publishing event in this nation 's history

 , '' said Baltimore Archbishop William H. Keeler , president of the National Co

nference of Catholic Bishops , in a prepared statement . Monsignor William E. Lo

ri , vicar general and chancellor of the archdiocese of Washington , said the ne

w catechism will be used as the basis for religious instruction materials throug

hout the world . Critics expressed concern over the Vatican 's decision to use e

xclusively masculine terminology . `` I feel very badly about it , '' Bishop Jos

eph Imesch of Joliet , Ill. , told the Associated Press . `` I don't think Rome 

has any understanding about the feelings that are aroused when you use exclusive

 language . '' But Archbishop Keeler called the issue `` a serious question .. .

 which only time and further study can answer . '' The last universal catechism 

was issued in 1566 after the Council of Trent , convened to respond to the sprea

d of the Protestant Reformation . A condensed and updated version , the Baltimor

e Catechism , was approved in 1885 by James Cardinal Gibbons , the Archbishop of

 Baltimore . With the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s , this version fel

l out of favor and was replaced by other religious textbooks . `` Catechesis '' 

is rooted in the Greek verb katekhein , to resound or echo . In the New Testamen

t , it refers to oral instruction used to pass down the teachings of Christ . Or

al instruction continued until the 16th Century and the invention of the printin

g press .

 WASHINGTON George W . Ball , who was under secretary of state during the Kenned

y and Johnson administrations and one of the few high-ranking U.S. officials to 

offer early and vigorous counsel against U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam 

, died of cancer May 26 at New York Hospital . He was 84 . Ball , who served in 

the State Department from 1961 to 1966 , was a specialist in foreign affairs , i

nternational law and commercial relations for most of his adult life . In the Ke

nnedy administration , he was part of the task force that steered the U.S. throu

gh the Cuban Missile Crisis , and he was an influential advocate of liberal worl

d trade policies and monetary stability while in government and out of it . Duri

ng World War II , he worked on the Lend Lease program to supply war materiel to 

the Allies . He later headed the U.S. . Strategic Bombing Survey , a civilian pa

nel appointed by President Roosevelt to evaluate the social , economic and physi

cal effects of the air raids on Nazi Germany . From this experience came Ball 's

 conclusion that massive bombing would be ineffectual in a country such as Vietn

am , which lacked a developed industrial infrastructure . After World War II , h

e served as general counsel to the French Supply Mission , which was engaged in 

the acquisition of supplies for the economic rehabilitation of postwar France . 

In this role , he worked closely with Jean Monnet , the architect of European ec

onomic unity , and he became one of the foremost American disciples of Monnet 's

 vision . Later he was an adviser to Monnet during the preliminary work that led

 to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community and later the European

 Common Market . From May of 1968 until January of 1969 , Ball was back in gover

nment service as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations . During the Carter admin

istration , he was an adviser on Iran and Persian Gulf policies . At other times

 in his career , he had been a U.S. trouble-shooter in such places as Zaire , Cy

prus and Laos . As a government official , Ball was said by associates to have b

een a stickler for details and an extraordinarily hard worker who found relaxing

 difficult . He wrote and rewrote all his own speeches , and he was often a nuis

ance to his colleagues after hours and on weekends . Away from the office , he w

as an amateur carpenter who spent years working on an addition to his home in Wa

shington . A resident of Princeton , N.J. , Ball was born in Des Moines . He gra

duated from Northwestern University , where he also received a law degree . He c

ame to Washington directly from law school at the outset of the New Deal , and h

e worked until 1935 in the office of the general counsel of the Treasury Departm

ent . From 1935 until returning to Washington in 1942 , he practiced law in Chic

ago . He was appointed associate general counsel of the Lend Lease Administratio

n , and then held the same position with the Foreign Economic Administration , o

f which Lend Lease had become a part . As director of the U.S. . Strategic Bombi

ng Survey , Ball interviewed several high Nazi officials , including Albert Spee

r , the German minister of armaments , munitions and production , whom he interr

ogated for seven days with economist John Kenneth Galbraith . A report on this i

nterrogation was published in Life magazine in December of 1945 . In Washington