Evening star., 1955-02-21
The Sickness of France


themselves, the French still are looking
around for government to replace the one
that their National Assembly tossed out
more than two weeks ago when it voted to
force the resignation Of Premier Mendes-
France. Meanwhile, as result of this latest
political crisis (the Goth Of its kind since
1945), the voice Of Paris continues to
dwindle In international affairs, and there
is further delay on such vital projects as
ratification of the accords on arning West
Germany.
Sooner or later, of course, perhaps with
in matter of days, one or another in the
current parade of Premiers-designate will
manage to organize cabinet and present
a program satisfactory enough to win the
Assembly's grudging approval. And France
then will have a government again. Un-
fortunately, however. barring political
miracle of the most improbable sort, that
governments day in the sun will almost
certainly be short-lived. For all signs indi-
cate that the merry -go-round in Paris will
keep on whirling, in its customary way,
through additional crises between now and
the national election scheduled to be held
late next year. Nor is there much reason
to believe that the election will effect any
The trouble with France, after all, is
too basic to be eliminated by mere popular
vote on the usual issues. Summed up with
some oversimplif1cation, the trouble-a kind
of deep-rooted parliamentary sickness-is
this: That the National Assembly, although
theoretically legislative body, has such
power to paralyze the executive branch of
the government (when there is govern
ment) that the Assembly itself must be re-
garded as the executive But it is an execu-
tive without the capacity to execute-an
executive so divided within itself, so riddled
with factionalism, so responsive to warning
pressure blocs, so prone to irresponsible
partisanship, and so much mirror of self
seeking economic interests that it can give
the country little more than political inde-
cision and instability.
To appreciate why this is so, one has
only to keep in mind that the membership
of the National Assembly is made up of
something like eight different political par
ties whose doctrinaire and uncompromising
views range from the far left to the far
right Moreover. in addition to the fact
that none of them has anything remotely
approaching majority of seats, these par
ties are themselves-in several instances
the teeth of such parliamentary situation
(Which Is chaotic compared to the de facto
two-party system prevailing in Britain and
our own country, anybody who becomes
Premier must operate on a shaky coalition
basis, and his government-lacking real
executive power-must be phenomenal to
survive even for few months.
Clearly enough, this is the democratic
process making rlockery of itself by re-
ducing the parliamentary system to sys-
tenn of recurrent national paralysis. And
the French will continue to do serious in
jury to themselves and the entire Western
world as long as they tolerate such tragi-
comedy by resisting constitutional reforms
aimed at creating stable and reasonably
long-lived governments Certainly, as one
Paris newspaper has put it, the present state
of affairs is an absurdity that "dishonors
France, submits her to ridicule from abroad
and is pushing her toward catastrophe"