POLITICS IN FRANCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23224, 23 June 1937, Page 8

POLITICS IN FRANCE

Financial difficulties in France have led to the collapse of the Blum Government. Perhaps it would be more exact to say that M. Blum, failing to secure from the Senate support for a Finance Bill in which he sought emergency powers to deal with the financial situation, has resigned in protest, the expectation being that the Government that succeeds to office will differ but slightly from its predecessor both in composition and in policy. There is an ironic observation on French politics to the effect that one Government exists merely to pave the way for another. Experience is at the root of such a judgment. It has been remarked, for instance, that France is becoming ungovernable because it has not been governed, that its problems are becoming insoluble because *no persistent attempt has been made to solve them. Whatever the reason may be for constant changes of Ministries—and they may be due in part to a decreasing sense of responsibility as well as to the bewildering number of parties, or groups, in the Chamber of Deputies—it is apparent that parliamentary government in France is at a low ebb. The sweeping victory of the Popular Front parties a year ago, which produced the elevation of M. Blum'to the Premiership, was claimed to be an expression of the discontent of the French people—a revolt against interchangeable Ministers and against Ministries which had lost their grip. The mission of the Popular Front Government, so it was said, was to save the parliamentary system, believed to be in imminent danger because of the existence of a multiplicity of political parties which seemed quite incapable of finding a common basis of action. M. Blum succeeded in surviving three major crises during a year of office. He wanted two years to complete his programme of social' and financial reforms; but, when he was inclined to call a pause in " social" expenditure, the extremists of his own Left coalition clamoured against any tightening of the purse-strings, while the moneyed interests on the other hand showed little disposition to co-operate by releasing funds for investment. The Socialist experiment, according to the Observer, has produced, in less than a year, nothing but the threat of general bankruptcy. The franc has fallen steadily, the Exchange Equalisation Fund having proved helpless to stay its decline. With a gloomy prospect in view M. Blum produced his proposals for additional taxes and increased charges for certain services, and for interest-free advances from the Bank of France. He sought, in addition, full powers to deal with the revenue crisis in his own way. His Bill was passed in the Chamber of Deputies, but was rejected by the Senate. If forecasts are correct, his successor will woo the investor by appearing less susceptible to Communist influences. To be successful the new Premier will have to produce a programme acceptable, in its essentials, to both the Right and Centre groups, and at the same time avoid estranging the strong extremist wings of the governing majority. In the circumstances he will begin his task with little security of tenure.