PLENARY POWERS REYNAUD ASKS TO STOP ROT

Grey River Argus, 7 August 1948, Page 5

PLENARY POWERS REYNAUD ASKS TO STOP ROT

French Financial Programme (Rec. 7.50) PARIS, Aug. 6. After a seven-hour meeting, Cabinet unanimously approved of the text of the Government’s Bill asking for special statutory powers to put through M. Reynaud’s financial economic programme. The Bill will be examined by the Finance Commission to-day, and it is expected to be debated in the Assembly to-mor-row when M. Reynaud will explain his measures, and the means he requires to put them into effect. Can France Be Unified in a Parliamentary Fashion ? (Rec. 9.40) LONDON, Aug. 6. It is expected that the French Finance Minister, M. Reynaud, will ask Parliament • for “discretionary powers’’ lasting for a year, or for eighteen months, to carry out economic reforms, without reference to Parliament, says Router’s Paris correspondent. The Socialists are reluctant to grant such powers to M. Reynaud, who opposes their State-planning doctrines. Moreover, other groups, including Moderates and Conservatives are hesitating because, although they are- willing to give M. Reynaud powers that he wants, they are not prepared to see some unknown successor inherit those powers. Even the most optimistic Deputies are not prepared to assume that the present Government can remain in office for a year or for eighteen months. The Times says: M. Reynaud is seeking new powers as the economic crisis in France deepens. They are profound conflicts within the framework of French society. These make economic reconstruction and stability hard to achieve, particularly in view of the clash of interests between urban France and rural F'rance, and between employers and employees. M. Reynaud has to find a way to stabilise prices, while resisting wage claims, and to promote french capital investment in an atmosphere where confidence is continually shrinking. On the good side of the picture are a promising grain harvest and rising exports, but France’s foreign payment deficit is still large, and prices have resumed an upward trend. Without a political accord which no French Government since the war has succeeded gaining, the nation’s economic needs cannot be met. NEW CRISIS IS - FEARED NOW (Rec. 11.40). LONDON, Aug. 6. Fears are growing of another Government crisis in France, during the week-end, says the- “Manchester Guardian’s” Paris correspondent. “The two major parties,” he states, “on which Premier Marie’s majority depends, are sharply divided, inside themselves, on whether they can afford to support M. Reynaud’s economic programme. M. Reynaud is concentrating on a long-term object, that of raising production and of economising in State expenditure. The Socialists are the M.R.P.'Parties are afraid that he is overlooking the immediate issue, and that his plan will not satify the Trade Unions which are seeking either lower prices or higher wages.