FRANCE AT THE CROSS-ROADS

Once again the roars of the dissatisfied Paris mob echo through the legislative halls of France as the Parliament faces the problem of amending the constitution to make it more of a working instrument of government. Unless the Chamber of Deputies is willing to sacrifice its permanence of tenure in the interests of responsible government, there is grave danger that Doumergue will throw off the shackles of a dilatory Parliament and establish a military dictatorship supported by the Croix do Feu. The current cabinet difficulties make this assertion even more within the realm of possibility.

Under the existing system in France, the government, lacking the power to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, has no effective means of forcing a program of legislation through the two houses of Parliament. So long as the problems which had to be dealt with by such an assembly were relatively simple, a certain amount of inefficiency was the price that was willingly paid for liberty. But the financial crisis, the critical situation of foreign affairs, the Stavisky scandal, have raised problems with which such a Parliament is unfitted to deal. Rehabilitation has to be concentrated in a power capable of effective action in order that decisions can be made quickly. Lacking such executive leadership, the country has blundered from one crisis to another, never able to maintain a continuous domestic or foreign policy due to the changing complexion of the multitudinous cabinets.

The proposed reform bill contemplates giving the Premier the right to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies in the event of a vote of no confidence. While the reform cannot mitigate the instability inevitable under a multi-party, Parliamentary system, it gives the executive such a power over the Deputies that they will think twice before opposing a government which has the power to cut short their Parliamentary careers by forcing them to stand before the electorate.