Constitutional Reform In France

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28491, 22 January 1958, Page 10

Constitutional Reform In France

France is notorious for her lack of stable government; and, since the Second World War, this has been one of the principal factors militating against her taking a rightful place among the democracies of the world Plagued by colonial unrest and grave economic disabilities, the country has failed to achieve even a basis for solving its problems. The new Prime Minister (Mr Felix Gaillard) has seized determinedly upon constitutional reform as his Government’s major task—after the Algerian question. In a recent speech to his constituents, Mr Gaillard bitterly assailed a system that was turning democracy into anarchy, producing a technocracy contrary to democratic ideals, and depriving France of authority in foreign affairs. Admittedly, the composition of the present Assembly has created a difficult problem. There are nearly 600 deputies; on the Left there are 150 Communists; and on the Right about 40 extremists, mainly led by Mr Pou jade. To the remaining 400 “ Republican ” deputies falls the real task of government; and more than 300 of these are needed to provide a secure majority. To effect the reforms required, it will be necessary for the political parties to agree much better than they commonly do. In the past, the extremes of Left and Right have frequently joined to produce a majority against a bill, though each group disagreed with the other’s reasons; and this has proved fatal to a number of Governments since the war. At 38, Mr Gaillard is the youngest Prime Minister in the history of the French Republic; and with his relative youth goes the advantage of having had very little share in party manoeuvres in recent years. When he assumed office last November, Mr Gaillard promptly attacked the “purely political “disease” that was preventing France from drawing full advantage from the efforts of her citizens, and the “ instability and “ opposition of parties ” that had

lost the sense of what it meant' to belong to a Government majority. In his inauguration speech, he pointed out that France had had no Government for two months out of 10 in 1957. To restore the healthy working of the Parliamentary system, he proposed asking the leaders or representatives of the groups that participated in the Government to form a permanent committee to deal with political or national problems as they arose and settle divergencies within coalition parties. Warning that this month the Assembly must deal with constitutional reform, Mr Gaillard contended that the President of the Republic should have the power to dissolve the Assembly when a certain interval after an election had passed, and after he had consulted the Presidents of the two Houses. The Assembly, he said, ought not to have the right to initiate expenditure, and the constitutional provision for votes of confidence and censure needed revision. Mr Gaillard has now made more concrete proposals to strengthen the Executive. The first, he says, “ takes away from Parliamen“tarians the initiative far ex- “ penditure ”. The second, and more important, is that “ a “ Government invested by a “majority of the deputies must “ not be overthrown except by “ a majority of the deputies ”. The latter proposal is based on the assumption that the Communists and the extreme Right would find it difficult to frame a censure motion which both could support. Mr Gaillard —and France —will be fortunate if he carries his proposals through against the multitudinous obstacles that may be raised in the Assembly. Indeed, his own plans for electoral reform may be used to hinder even more vital changes in the Constitution. One thing, however, is certain: France cannot afford again to be left, as she was by the fall of the BourgesManoury Government, without an executive, without a policy for Algeria, and without a decisive voice among the nations.