Giscard d’Estaing new French P.M.?

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33450, 4 February 1974, Page 18

Giscard d’Estaing new French P.M.?

GV.Z. Press Association—Copyright) PARIS, February 3. President Pompidou will appoint Mr Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the French Minister of Finance, Prime Minister before the end of February, according to the weekly Paris magazine, “L’Express.”

Mr Giscard d’Estaing will replace Mr Pierre Messmer, who, the magazine says, has been unable to gain the confidence of the French people. In a leading article, “L’Express” says: “President

Pompidou believes that cir- < cumstances demand a Prime i Minister who can master the I economy, and make himself < heard by Frenchmen.” French officials have re- i fused to comment on persis- ‘ tent reports in recent weeks < that Mr Messmer was on the t way out. Under the French i Constitution, the President 1 appoints the Prime Minister, i and Mr Pompidou has so far i remained silent about re- < ported plans to replace Mr 1 Messmer. I I i TV ADDRESS Mr Giscard d’Estaing, who I is 48, has been much in the 1 public eye recently, and it was he who addressed the nation on television to explain the French decision to float the franc last month, and who subsequently led the Government’s defence of! this action during an extra- ) ordinary session of Parlia- ! ment. | , If Mr Giscard d’Estaing is|j appointed to the Prime Min-;, istership, it will be an im- ) portant stepping-stone to- . (wards his thinly-concealed , ambition to become President when Mr Pompidou’s term (expires in 1976. French political pundits have for years placed him among the ) front runners to succeed Mr Pimpidou, but “L’Express” says that Mr Giscard ! d’Estaing recently told two of his colleagues in the Cabinet that he would not stand for the Presidency unless President Pompidou specifically selected him as 1 his successor. ; JUNIOR PARTNER Mr Giscard d’Estaing is the; deader of the Independent) Republican Party, a junior) 'partner in the Gaullist;

coalition, and is opposed by many diehard followers of the late President Charles de Gaulle. Almost coinciding with the appearance of the article in “L’Express,” Mr Giscard d’Estaing wrote a column in the newspaper, “Le Figaro,” in which he was strangely philosophical about the permanence of power. “There is no more posterity which can appeal to ambition—at least, no longer in public life . . .” he wrote. “History is no longer centred on individuals or groups of men, but on the survival of mankind.”