FRENCH CABINET

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22494, 25 November 1947, Page 5

FRENCH CABINET

SCHUMAN’S TEAM M.R.P. AND SOCIALISTS COMMUNISTS BARRED (10 a.m.) PARIS, Nov. 24. After 30 hours’ almost uninterrupted negotiations, the Prime Minister, M. Robert Schuman presented his new Cabinet. M. Bidault remains Foreign Minister and will therefore represent France at the Foreign Ministers’ conference opening in London today. There are no Communists in the new Cabinet which consists of nine M.R.P., six Socialists, three Radical Socialists, one Moderate Independent Republican and one woman Minister. The full Cabinet is as follows: Premier. M. Robert Schuman (M.R.P.) Foreign Affairs.—M. Georges Bidault (M.R.P.)

Armed Forces. —M. Pierre-Henry Teitgen (M.R.P.) Labour.—M. Daniel Mayer (Socialist).

Education.—M. Marcel Naegelen (Socialist).

Finance. —M. Rene Meyer (Radical). Public Works.—M. Christian Pineau (Socialist).

Agriculture. —M. Pierre Fflimlin (M.R.P.) Justice.—M. Andre Marie (Radical). Reconstruction.—M. Rene Coty (Independent Conservative). Colonies. M, Paul Coste-Floret (M.R.P.) Interior.—M. Jules Moch (Socialist). Industry—M. Robert Lacoste (Socialist). Ex-servicemen. —M. Francois Mitterand (Radical). Public Health.—Madame Germaine Poinsochapuis (M.R.P.) Secretary of State.—M. Pierre Abelin (M.R.P.) Secretary of State for War.—M. Paul Bechard (Socialist). Secretary of State for the Navy.— M. Johanesse Pierre Duprez (M.R.P.) Secretary of State for Air. —M. Andre Maroselli (Radical). Secretary of State for German Affairs, —M. Pierre Schneiter (M.R.P. Determined to Act After presenting his Cabinet list to the President, M. Auriol, the Premier said: “My Government is a team determined to act —and talk as little as possible. Many difficulties face us. We count on the French people’s determination and discipline without which we cannot carry out our mission.” The new Cabinet will start work at a time when France’s vital port system faces almost complete paralysis and the railways system is coming to a standstill, says the British United Press correspondent in Paris. More troops have been drafted into Paris to meet the possibility of increased outbreaks of violence. The Communist-controlled General Labour Confederation has called for a strike of all dockworkers today. Civil servants and postal employees are expected to stop work also as a result of decisions reached last week to strike if their demands for pay increases had not been met by today. It is estimated that 1,000,000 workers are already idle. Fifteen thousand workers at the Citroen motor factories, near Paris, returned to wbrk after being on strike for more than a week, says Reuter’s correspondent. It is the first major break in the mass stoppage of 350,000 metal workers in the Paris area and represented a victory for “the labour force” a minority anti-Communist group in the French General Confederation of Labour.