French Premier Scores Two Victories In Parliament

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27426, 12 August 1954, Page 11

French Premier Scores Two Victories In Parliament

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9.40 p.m.) ’ PARIS, August 11. The French Prime Minister (Mr Mendes-France) yesterday scored a double victory in Parliament, leaving him free to devote the next fortnight to the problem of France’s attitude to the European Army. In the morning the National Assembly, after a 40 minutes’ speech by Mr Mendes-France, gave substantial approval to his economic policy. By 362 votes to 90, the Assembly granted the Government far-reaching powers to legislate by decree for the next eight months. In this vote the Communists, for the first time since Mr Mendes-France took office, abstained from voting for- him. The chief Opposition party, the Popular Republicans, voting for the Government for the first time, came out in favour of his economic new deal. The second victory for Mr Mendes-France came last night after he had spent practically 13 hours in the National Assembly and made two major speeches. The Assembly, by 398 votes to 126, agreed to postpone the full debate on the Government’s North African policy until 27.

The result was a special success for the Prime Minister, because after a sharp attack on his action in Tunisia, Mr Mendes-France said he must insist on the vote being considered as approval for what he had done,so far. This seemed to many deputies to be asking a lot, considering that the full debate had not yet taken place. The Prime Minister, nevertheless, succeeded in getting a big vote, with nobody disclaiming his interpretation of the result. This time the Communists voted for the Government and the Popular Republicans abstained. Even without the Communist vote, Mr Mendes-France had a comfortable majority.

In quick succession the Prime Minister has now ensured the National Assembly’s support in three out of four points his programme—peace in Indo-China, the economic new deal, and a liberal policy in North Africa. This leaves him free to (fcal with the fourth biggest item in his programme —reconciling the friends and the foes of the European Army Treaty.

A meeting of the Cabinet was to have started dealing with the European Defence Community Treaty last night, but it had to be postponed until this afternoon, because of the Tunisia debate. Premier’s Speech In. the debate this morning, Mr Mendes-France “We must arouse France. We. must reintegrate the working claps into the nation. We must reintegrate Metropolitan France into the French Union and each Frenchman into his In the long run, all Frenchmen will be lost or saved together.” The Prime Minister said that France wait until United States aid was ended to put right the deficit in its balance of payments. In the autumn, France was due to free her trade from a ‘number of restrictions. If the -country evaded international obligations in this respect other European countries would close their frontiers to hpr trade. The standard of living in France was too low for the twentieth century, he said. It was wrong to wait until strikes and disorders were provoked by low living standards, and it was much better to promote economic .development, which would raise them without endangering the stability of the currency. “Erutal and raises in salaries would do no good, although they might produce a few days of misleading popularity for the Government. “Workers Rea! Victims” , The workers would be the real victims of another race between rising g rices and rising wages not based on igher production. Mr Mendes-France said that wages should be raised in prosperous industries by collective bargaining. He promised to compare wages and production every six months, starting on October 1, to see what wage adjustments might- be justified. Unemployment was the greatest enemy of productivity. The Government was establishing a Labour Readaptation Fund to cope with transfer of labour from* one place to another when industrial developments required it. The Government had no intention of using force to make industrialists reconvert, their factories or to oblige enterprises with only marginal profits to disappear, he said. Attitude to E.D.C. The Speaker for the Roman Catholic M.R.P. (Popular Republican Party), which spearheads the campaign for integrating France in a supra-national community with a rearmed Western Germany, said today that although it was voting for the Prime Minister’s economic programme, his party would judge him definitely on his attitude to the E.D.C. The big debate for or against the ratification of this treaty, which preceding governments have kept on postponing for more than fwo years, has been fixed by the Prime Minister for August 24. The Communist Party spokesman, Mr Jacques Duclos, said that the Communists would not embarrass the Government at this stage by voting against its economic prdgramme, but sinte they would not approve it they would abstain. Mr Duclos warned the Prime Minister against sliding on the “slippery slope” of E.D.C. ratification. The Government’s economic programme, he said, seemed to be conceived in the spirit of European integration and* German rearmament. The French Government ought to have accepted Russia’s recent invitation for a new Four-Power meeting. Mr Duclos threatened “increasing popular, pressure” against the E.D.C. treatyX The Prime Minister will hold his first Cabinet meeting on E.D.C. tonight. Some of his advisers consider that the Russians should be given another

opportunity to offer the West an acceptable bargain—a settlement in Europe in exchange for modification of the present Western intention to rearm Western Germany. But the Prime Minister’s own attitude remains a secret.