The name is absent



32


RICE UNIVERSITY STUDIES


Assembly and the government.155 Parliamentary grievances were sharply
voiced over the government’s Algerian policy and over its behavior during
the miners’ strike of 1963. More significant are the repeated pleas from
the UDR benches for an end to the government’s cavalier treatment of its
supporters in the National Assembly. Among the critics have been such
prominent UDR deputies as Jacques Chaban-Delmas, President of the
National Assembly, René Tomasini, a` national UD-Ve secretary, Achile
Peretti, formerly a vice-president of the UNR group in the National As-
sembly, Joël Le Tac, then Director of
La Nation, and Raymond Schmitt-
lein, then President of the UNR group in the National Assembly. In 1960,
Chaban-Delmas warned that “it is necessary that there be established be-
tween the Government and Parliament a relationship which admits the real
existence of Parliament.” He added that “an Executive without true par-
liamentary controls leads gradually to arbitrary action and to dictator-
ship.”150 In sharper tones, he protested in mid-1961 that the government
was behaving like “an autocrat, arrogating to itself full powers the better to
abusé them, especially by preventing, through its control of the agenda, the
discussion of any private member’s bill and indeed any subject desired by
the representatives of the nation.”''’7 In a similar vein, at a study conference
for UNR deputies held at Pornichet in September, 1961, René Tomasini
regretted the absence of a true dialogue between government and parlia-
ment. In three years, he noted, only 21 out of 496 bills proposed by depu-
ties had been placed by the government on the Assembly’s agenda, while
206 out of 273 government bills had been adopted.154 When Tomasini’s
colleagues joined in, asking for more government attention to parliament,
Prime Minister Michel Debré retorted angrily that his critics were men of
“frustrated ambitions,” and that he refused to be “a President of the Coun-
cil of the Fourth Republic.”159 Raymond Schmittlein, President of the UNR
group in the Assembly, seemed to be joining the critics when later in the
same meeting he argued that though the UNR must generally support the
Government, “. . . the turtle-shelled technocrats must cease to dominate
the regime. Civil servants have too much importance, and if
l'intendance
ne suit pas,
it is because political necessities are not being taken enough into
account.”1'1" Perhaps the most violent Gaullist critique of the government
came from the pen of Joël Le Tac in the special
La Nation editorial men-
tioned above. Wrote Le Tac, “Its [the UNR’s] role should not be limited to
filling the stage, to amusing the gallery, between two television appear-
ances of General de Gaulle.”101

Particularly in the first Assembly, from 1959 to 1962, morale among the
UNR deputies frequently was low. Absenteeism was a continual problem,
as deputies frequently felt that attendance made little difference.
102 Even
Gaullist deputies were not unaffected by a proud and long-standing French



More intriguing information

1. Financial Market Volatility and Primary Placements
2. The name is absent
3. The name is absent
4. The name is absent
5. Effects of red light and loud noise on the rate at which monkeys sample the sensory environment
6. Recognizability of Individual Creative Style Within and Across Domains: Preliminary Studies
7. ISSUES IN NONMARKET VALUATION AND POLICY APPLICATION: A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE
8. Impact of Ethanol Production on U.S. and Regional Gasoline Prices and On the Profitability of U.S. Oil Refinery Industry
9. Short report "About a rare cause of primary hyperparathyroidism"
10. How much do Educational Outcomes Matter in OECD Countries?
11. Making International Human Rights Protection More Effective: A Rational-Choice Approach to the Effectiveness of Ius Standi Provisions
12. The name is absent
13. The name is absent
14. Gianluigi Zenti, President, Academia Barilla SpA - The Changing Consumer: Demanding but Predictable
15. LABOR POLICY AND THE OVER-ALL ECONOMY
16. The name is absent
17. Partner Selection Criteria in Strategic Alliances When to Ally with Weak Partners
18. Beyond Networks? A brief response to ‘Which networks matter in education governance?’
19. Sex-gender-sexuality: how sex, gender, and sexuality constellations are constituted in secondary schools
20. The Response of Ethiopian Grain Markets to Liberalization