Fabius Cabinet likely today

Press, 20 July 1984, Page 6

Fabius Cabinet likely today

NZPA-Reuter Paris Laurent Fabius, son of a wealthy antiques expert and the youngest Prime Minister of France in 150 years, is expected to announce his Cabinet line-up today or perhaps tomorrow. s Mr Fabius, aged 37, was Industry Minister in the outgoing Cabinet of Pierre Mauroy, whose surprise resignation was accepted by the President, Mr Francois Mitterrand, on Wednesday. After the new Prime Minister and his predecessor had lunch together and strolled in the sunshine in the grounds of the Prime Minister’s official residence, the Hotel Matignon, Mr Mauroy gave way to a smiling Mr Fabius in a brief handshake on the steps of the low stone building. Two main questions hanging over the new Government are whether the Communist Party will remain in partnership with the governing Socialist Party, as it has for the last three years, and whether the outgoing Finance Minister, Jacques Delors, will switch to a new job.

Messrs Fabius and Mauroy declined to comment to reporters. Mauroy aides said that the outgoing Prime Minister, aged 56, would leave in the next few days for a long-planned holiday in Morocco. The Communist Party’s electoral pact with the Socialists helped sweep the Left into power in 1981 after 25 years in Opposition. The Communist Party, led by Georges Marchais, which had four Ministers in the Mauroy Administration, has become increasingly critical of Government policy on industry and the economy. Some political analysts said that it was only a matter of time before Mr Mitterrand decided to distance himself from the Communists. Others said that he might prefer to keep the party in his Socialist Administration’s orbit A disastrous slump by the Communists in last month’s elections for the European Parliament, scoring only 11 per cent of the French vote, triggered fresh speculation about their future role in the Government. Speaking I

to reporters, the outgoing Communist Transport Minister, Charles Fiterman, declined to say whether the party would keep its Government presence in the Fabius Caoinet. The analysts said that a Socialist Government without the Communists would be more likely to adopt a Centrist type of policy, moving away from the traditional radical Socialist

platform of Mr Mauroy. As the Communists prepared for an emergency meeting of their central committee, the role of Mr Delors, who is generally thought to have the confidence of French and international financiers, was also in question. Mr Delors, described by Mr Mitterrand as the best French Finance Minister in the last decade, was the architect of an austerity programme which has cut French inflation to its lowest in 12 years.

Diplomats said in Brussels yeserday that Mr Delors had been accepted by European Economic Community member States to head the bloc’s executive Commission. They said that the formal announcement of his appointment could come after Mr Fabius names his Cabinet.

The job of managing the day-to-day business of the 10-nation group carries a tax-free salary of SUSBO,OOO a year. Reliable French sources said that other figures unlikely to appear in the new

Cabinet list included the outgoing External Relations Minister, Claude Cheysson, and Gaston Defferre, the 73-year-old veteran politician from Marseilles who has held the important Interior Ministry portfolio.

Mr Mauroy, who was in hospital with a lung infection earlier this year, is »to concentrate on politics, the sources said. He has been Mayor of the northern industrial city of Lille since 1973.