REFERENDUM IN FRANCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 30 July 1945, Page 5

REFERENDUM IN FRANCE

QUESTIONS TO BE SUBMITTED GOVERNMENT TO STICK TO ITS GUNS ! (Rec. 11.35 a.m.) Paris, July 29. ( Addressing an unsual Sunday sesI sion of the Consultative Assembly Gen- ' eral de Gaulle announced that the Government intended to stick to its guns j in the dispute over the questions to be ! submitted to the referendum and would 1 propose specified division of powers in j the new Government. J General de Gaulle took up the Asi sembly’s objections to the Cabinet’s i referendum proposals which many j delegates interpreted as a threat to ! resign if the Assembly failed to sup- ! port him. j The Government proposes to ask i voters whether they want to return j to the 1875 Constitution or a new naj tional charter, and if the latter whether they want the Assembly to exercise complete sovereignty while a constij tulion is being drafted or divide powers | between the legislature and the execu(tive. General de Gaulle spoke unequivocally against a sovereign assembly which he said would expose the nation to grave governmental confusion. “This Government proposes to efface itself in favour of a Government resulting from universal suffrage. Something new is needed. It is better to search for it in the people's suffrages than in an arbitrary Government decision. We must give the people back their faith in constitutionalism.’’ General de Gaulle added that the Government would take the Consultative Assembly’s views into consideration. but he emphasised that the French Government needed an assurance of stabilty and recalled the terrible price paid before 1940 "because successive Governments were subjected to bargaining inside and outside Cabinet.” General de Gaulle in making a personal statement said: “I have n 0 other ambition than to walk at the head of France until the time she regains her place in the world, but I could not reach this goal if I were forced to separate myself from those wh 0 are with me in the fight.” Prolonged applause from most parts of the Chamber followed the speech. PROPOSALS REJECTED (Rec. 1.30 p.m.) Paris, July 29. The Consultative Assembly rejected General de Gaulle’s constitutional proposals by 210 votes to 19 and adopted the principle of the Government being responsible to the Constituent As sembly.