FRENCH RIFT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21990, 6 April 1946, Page 7

FRENCH RIFT

CRISIS IN CABINET MOOTED ALLIANCE RUHR’S FUTURE STATUS MINISTERS DISAGREE (10 a.m.) LONDON, April 5. A French Cabinet crisis is reported to have arisen over the proposal by the French President, M. Felix Goriin, for an Anglo-French alliance, says the Daily Mail’s correspondent in Paris. M. Gouin wants it signed before the elections and, to smooth the way, he said he would be willing to make concessions to the British- viewpoint regarding the control of the Ruhr. Bidault Insists on Severance The Foreign Minister, M. Bidault, on the other hand, insists that the Ruhr must be cut off from Germany for ever. He is backed by other Ministers, including Communists, who argue that an alliance without the Ruhr being taken from German control would offer no security.

The Daily Telegraph’s correspondent in Paris reports that Mr. Oliver Harvey, assistant Under-Secretary of State, arrived in Paris by air on Wed-

nesday night and talked separately yesterday with M. Gouin and M. Bidault regarding the proposed Anglo-French aliiance which the French Cabinet will discuss to-day.

Mr. Harvey afterwards returned to London. , A correspondent quotes M. Bidault as saying: "In a few hours’ time I will no longer be Minister.”

The call by M. Gouin, the French President, for a Franco-British pact to balance the Franco-Soviet pact, with the possibility of a single tripartite agreement together with closer relations between France and the United States, is believed to bo based on a hope of securing such economic assistance as will enable him to convince the electorate that his Government has been able to produce results. France has now to decide crucial issues, and this.week marks the beginning of a series of debates on the constitution of the Fourth Republic, together with an electoral battle. The date for the referendum on the constitution has now been provisionally set for May 25, with the general election to follow a fortnight later. Socialists Neutral There is, it is stated, no desire among the French Socialists to take sides with the Anglo-Saxon Powers against the Soviet, but M. Gouin’s recent speeches and the Socialist Party’s manifesto show a clear desire to reach a close working understanding with Britain on such questions as Germany. Both the speech and the manifesto are regarded as marking a turning point in French foreign policy with regard to Germany. For months France has insisted on the separation of the Ruhr and the Rhineland from Germany preceding any decisions about a central administration, but M. Gouin has now declared _ that France does not demand the political separation of the Ruhr and the Rhineland from Germany, and has hinted that France would not necessarily be opposed to the establishment in Germany of certain centralised “technical agencies.” This policy is apparently now also acceptable to the French Communists, who have fallen into line with the German Communists. It is not, however, suitable to the third French party, the M.R.P. But the French Government has proposed a four-Power conference on Germany and has indicated that it is prepared to compromise. Annexation No Solution M. Gouin has also stated: “Annexation, whether brutal or disguised, cannot be a solution of the German problem. _ The only rational and possible solution is internationalisation. To cure the Reich of the Nazi poison which will circulate for a long time in its veins Germany must be occupied. But France must not be alone charged with this mission. The only reasonable solution is an inter-Allied occupation for as long as necessary to give world peace.

“We do not envisage,” said M. Gouin, “the administration and control of territories which constitute the essential German knot, the Saar, the Rhineland and the Ruhr, except from an international angle. The nation is unanimous that we must with our Allies find on adequate solution, to prevent these regions from becoming again a cornerstone of Prussian nationalism. The fundamental problem is coal, and that is why we put accent on the particular aspect that it presents tor US.”--,