That M. Faure and his government have been accepted by
the National Assembly would seem to end the political crisis in France for the minute. But a good many reefs remain to be navigated and it is not easy to see how the new Prime Minister can avoid running his coalition on to one or other of them. At first sight his government is considerably more to the left of centre than might have been expected. The MRP have the Colonies, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance, and M. Bourges-Maunoury (a Mendes-France Radical) has the Ministry of the Interior. However, the Gaullists are repre- sented by M. Gaston Palewski and General Koenig, and one can imagine that there will be difficulties when it comes to settling an agreed policy on Moral Africa 'Still, it is high time that France had a government and it must be hoped that M. Faure, with his experience of writing detective stories, will be able to solve the problem of the missing majority. Mean- while in North Africa the situation continues to deteriorate, with the usual assassinations and counter-assassinations piling up hatred in geometrical progression. Nor is the lack of a French government making things any easier for Dr. Aden- auer, who is having to meet growing criticism from West Germans opposed to rearmament and who must feel that every fresh political crisis across the Rhine makes the possibility of the ratification of the Paris agreements by the upper French house more remote. One must wish M. Faure success even if it is hard to believe in it.
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