Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-10-16
france

France
IN France, the fan Of the govern
ment occurs about as surely Is the
fan Of the year and about twice
as frequently. This week end. the
coalition governments 0f Edgar
Faure (which escaped extinction .
week aeO only hy the classiest Of
political footWork - was being
counted out b. virtually Al knowl-
edgeable observers.
Last week end the issue was Mo-
rocco. ThisWee end Il was Algeria.
M. Faure had managed to preserve
control Of the government on the
Moroccan question by dumping his
right-wtng support. But on Algeria.
he needed the rightists. and they
were angry,
on Friday. III. Faure called
formally on the National Assembly
for vote Of confidence on Algeria.
The Stars European Correspondent,
Crosby s. Noyes. said Friday. III
the vote were taken today. NJ.
Faure would face certain defeat.
It Is unlikely that the vote will
be taken before Tuesday, however.
That gives M. Faure an outside
chance to marshal his forces and
get assembly backing Tor his gov
eminent.
Integrotion vs.. Federation
Most observers, however, believe
the only way he win manage this
Is to abandon his hitherto firm
policy Of ''integration' for Algeria.
The alternative would be 'federa-
tion.. which M. Faure opposes.
Indignation, In the case Of Algeria,
means that the big North African
area would remain legally . part Of
Metropolitan France. and that d
gradual Improvement Of the con-
dition Of the Arab majority there
would be undertaken. After some
lnspecified period Of time the
Arab would be, politically. socially
and economically. q Frenchmarl.
Opponents Of this plan sponsor
federation. They feel that basic
differences between MosIem Arab
and Christian Frenchman are in
surnountable. Instead Of trying to
do the impossible within the frame
work Of Metropolitan France, they
say. the best course Is to FEEDER
ate.nlake Algeria sort IT
dominion. Former Premier Rene
Pleven called for such . change
last week.
What NJ. Faure might come up
with over the week end was not
clear. Parisians did not seem TO
be particularly interested. Far
more engaging . speculation was
the question Of who would take
over after M. Faure falls,
Enter Mendes Frunce
One man prominently mentioned
for the premiership was the milk
drinking former Premier, Pierre
Mendes-France. M. Mendes- France
was busted after the Indo-C China
fiasco last February. and was suc-
ceeded by M. Faure.
But some observers - including
The Stars Mr.. Noyes--thoueht M.
Mendes-France was not particularly
interested In holding down the
premiership ct this iincomfcrtabiy
hot time. Mr.. Noyes suggested that
what would please M. Mendes-
Z France more would be an opportu-
nifty 70 feckle some such right
winger e. Antoine Pinay, mean
while building himself up for power
after the elections next spring. "a
Support for this long range view
came last week with creation Of .
new daily paper, L'Express. pedi-
Gated To the Mendes-F France point
of-view, It Is edited by q Mendes-
France henchman. Jean Jacques
Servan-Schreiber. Its first issue
carried . column on North African
affairs by Q part-time journalist
named Pierre France.
The banner headline Of LExpress'
maiden issue proclaimed that ''the
Socialists have broken with Edgar
Faure.v The New York Times re-
ported that this would have bsen