The Little Plum

For the 23rd time since World War II, French politicians sweated through the ceremonial dance of trying to form a government. President Rene Coty first offered the premiership to Rene Pleven, then to Antoine Pinay. Both refused. Pleven had been Defense Minister during Dienbienphu, feared ugly comparisons with the Algerian war. Parliamentary arithmetic ruled out any candidate without Socialist support, something Right-Winger Pinay could not get. Finally, the President summoned tall, white-haired Pierre Pflimlin, 50, to his oak-paneled office at the Elysee Palace for a two-hour talk, then walked him to the threshold and said: "Do it quickly and try to make it solid."

Lawyer Pflimlin, whose name (pronounced roughly Fleemlan) means "Little Plum" in his native Alsatian patois, is a textile worker's son who joined the new Catholic center party, the M.R.P., after returning from the war in 1945. His impressive oratory, bad temper and enormous energy have led colleagues to dub him "The Mendes-France of the M.R.P." Like most Alsatians, he is solidly pro-European. Along with several other Catholics, he recently protested French atrocities in Algeria. His success in forming a government depends on whether the Socialists decide to participate on his terms, which he summarized: "The nation must accept a regime of vigor and discipline."

An appeal to vigor and discipline falls on unhearing ears in a prosperous-looking France, where cars and motorscooters jam the streets and highways, and tables groan under good food and drink. Yet for all the look of health, the French treasury is empty. Last week the government borrowed another 80 billion francs from the Bank of France to meet the weekly payroll. The country's foreign-trade balance was unfavorable by 221 billion francs during the first four months of 1957. A billion dollars earned by French exports in better days has been dissipated during the past 18 months. A quarter-billion dollars went to pay for oil, which before last October was bought with francs or sterling, and shipped through the Suez Canal. The treasury's reserves of gold and foreign currency are at a low in recent years. Said one Budget official: "We can always get the Bank of France to print more francs, but we cannot ask them to print dollars." With 1.5 billion francs ($4,000,000) going daily to fight the Algerian war, only increased taxes, severe import restrictions, a regime of real austerity, and perhaps a capital levy on hoarded gold, can put France's economy on its feet. But there is no sign that the French are ready for a strong government that will accept such unpalatable measures.

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