Socialists Break Up French Government

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1948, Page 6

Socialists Break Up French Government

LONDON, August 28.

The French Cabinet formed a month ago by M. Andre Marie resigned yesterday after four meetings in 24 hours had failed to bring agreement on reforms proposed by the Minister of Finance (M. Paul Reynaud). The reforms included an increSfee in food prices and reductions in the Civil Service.

In a statement M. Marie said that he had resigned because certain differences within the Cabinet “could not be eliminated, although agreement had not been reached at an earlier phase of the discussions.”

Observers believe that with the fall of the tenth Government since the liberation France faces her severest post-war political test. They ask who there is left for the President (M. Vincent Auriol) to choose as M. Marie's successor, and they speculate on the possibility that the National Assembly will be dissolved and new elections held—a course which General de Gaulle has been urging for months. It is understood that the Government fell because M. Reynaud could not accept the new high level ot wages which Popular Republican and Socialist Ministers demanded.

The British United Press correspondent in Paris says that M. Auriol met party representatives within a few hours of the fall of the Government in a bid to resolve Frances new crisis quickly. Reuter’s Paris correspondent says that those most frequently mentioned a.s M. Marie’s successor are M. Pierre MendesFranco (Radical Socialist), M. Robert Schuman (Popular Republican), and M. Paul Rarnadier (Socialist). It is agreed, however, that it will be very difficult for any of these candidates to got the necessary majority. The Paris correspondent of the Associated Press says that M. MendesFrance would have to cement a coalition Government among the leaders ot the various political creeds which compose the Centre group between the Communists and General de Gaulle’s followers. It is generally assumed that neither the de Gaullists nor the Communists stand a chance of getting a foothold in such a coalition.

M. .Mendes-France, the correspondent adds, advocates currency reform as the only road to Frances economic salvation. It is considered that he is one of the few leaders able to strike

a balance between Right Wing Liberalism and Socialist demands for State controls. Reuter’s Paris correspondent says that M. Reynaud, in an interview after the Government’s fall, said that any raising of France’s wage level would endanger the French export drive.

De Gaulle Campaign Expected

I “Well-informed French political circles understand that M. Auriol is anxious to form a new Government with the utmost urgency, not only because of the need for France’s voice to be heard in international negotiations regarding Germany, but also because France’s home problems require the quickest possible solution,” says Reuter’s Paris correspondent. “Political observers are more and more inclined to ask. whether this crisis does not imply that it is impossible for- any man or any party to form a Cabinet able to secure a stable majority in the Assembly. It is possible that the Assembly will recognise this, and vote for its own dissolution and a general election. “Fear that General de Gaulle would sweep the board in a general election would be the main factor in preventing such a decision.” The Paris correspondent of the British United Press says: “Associates of General de Gaulle said that General de Gaulle, spurred by the downfall of M. Marie’s Government, would unleash soon an all-out campaign for his return to power. They added that General de Gaulle would probably issue a statement denouncing the present regime and demanding the dissolution of the National Assembly and the holding of a general election.”

The Radicals bitterly resent the Socialists’ action in breaking up M. Marie’s Cabinet.