France: A Popularly Elected President?

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Hailed in the press as Karl der Grosse and Charles I, Emperor of Europe, President de Gaulle last week capped his historic, hugely successful state visit to West Germany with a momentous confession. Speaking for once as a citizen rather than as the voice of France, Charles de Gaulle revealed that he himself, through "the grandfather of my maternal grandfather," a barber-surgeon who served in Napoleon's army, has been one-sixteenth German all these years.

After bestowing this bouquet on his hosts, the General flew home in a mood to make sure that France's new union with Germany does not falter at the altar. In a meeting with his Cabinet, De Gaulle declared that France could maintain the respect of Germany and its position as the "leader of Western Europe" only by ensuring that the nation does not relapse, after his death or retirement, into "the precarious and disastrous condition that it knew for 50 years" of unending political crises. To correct what he once called "the badly constructed framework" of the Third and Fourth Republics, De Gaulle proposes to strengthen the present presidential system and thus confer on his successor the authority that Charles de Gaulle enjoys by virtue of his immense personal prestige.

To Rule, Not Reign. De Gaulle's plan, to be announced in a nationwide broadcast this week, calls for a referendum to be held in late October on a new constitutional amendment that would permit direct popular election of the President by France's 27.5 million registered voters.

Until le grand Charles, France's President had been a largely ceremonial figurehead —"an announcer of ambassadors" in his scornful words, who "reigns but does not rule." Presently the President is chosen by a college of 80,000 electors: municipal and departmental officials, members of Parliament, and representatives of France's Overseas Territories. De Gaulle seeks to widen this mandate.

However, the presidential system envisaged by De Gaulle dispenses with the checks and balances of the U.S. presidency, which many Gaullists profess to admire. "The President," said he, "must be a chief, not an umpire." All foreign policy, defense and budgetary decisions would in effect still be "reserved" for the President. Parliament would be a virtual rubber stamp body, subject at any time to dissolution by the all-powerful chief executive. And though De Gaulle has described a strong presidency as an eventual "influence of continuity," his blueprint contains no provision for vice-presidential succession in an emergency. If De Gaulle were to die tomorrow, the office would go to Senate President Gaston Monnerville, an undistinguished politician from French Guiana.

Confession Session. Opposition to De Gaulle's proposals was intense among French politicians, who have become increasingly resentful of his autocratic ways.