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Survey of the French Union and the States Placed Under The "**! ft DE L'EUROPE - CODICIL OF EUROPE Confidential 4 AG/WP 1 ( 50) 3 Or. Fr. PACECOM000888 COMMITTEE OF GEHERAL AFFAIRS I Working Party on Overseas Territories Survey of the Fren»h Union and the States r placed under the Protectorate of the French Republic submitted by M. MARC SCHERER Substitute to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe *f 10th Mar«»h, 1950 B.38 I. A. 239 •;.^'"«^tKi"':>'/V-"'-?'''T^ryr; -/: ' '" INDEX Page Introduction \± PART I THE PREKCH UNION (excluding Metropolitan Prance) A ~ Structure of the Prench Union, The Prench Union « • 7 Analytical Table .... VV*^I^ B - Algeria and the Overseas Departments of the French Republic. Algeria il± The Overseas Departments 20 0 - The Overseas Territories of the Prench Republic. The federated Territories: Prench West Africa 2ij. Prench Equatorial Africa 28 The non-federated Territories: Madagascar and Dependencies .... 32 The Comoro Archipelago ......... 36 Prench Somaliland 38 Prench possessions in India ,,.. 1^.0 Prench possessions in Oceania... [j.1 New Caledonia and Dependencies . [|_2 The Islands of Saint-Pierre and Mi quo Ion [j.6 Appendix: The Condominium of the New Hebrides D - The Mandated Territories. (Associated Territories) Cameroons ........0 51 Togoland « 55 r ••-. -". *'W9fl '• /.. y "T7"*'~jT>"*r'~'" • • ""*" ';irT"^r|wF»-~'--^TJSII - 3 - Page • E - Associated States. $ (Indo-China) Position of the associated States within the French Union 59 6 Position of the associated States with regard to Indo-China 61 • Internal structure of the associated States 62 |fe Economic facts £5 PART II THE STATES PLAGES UNDER THE PROTECTORATE OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. A- Morocco 69 B - Tunisia 7!). • _ A — The following Survey, which has been prepared for the attention of the Study Group on Overseas Territories set up within the Committee on General Affairs of the Consultative Assembly, is purely documentary. It seemed to me essential to give this information in order to enable a detailed examination to be made of the problems involved in forging closer links between the European Union on the one hand, and the Prench Union and the States placed under the Proctectorate of the Prench Republic on the other - and possibly the subsequent association of these States and Territories with the European Union. The Survey is divided into two Parts: the first deals with the French Union (excluding Metropolitan Prance) and the second with the States under Prench protection ~ the preceding index, brings out their main points. It will be noticed that, for each of the "statistical reports" supplied for each State or Territory, information has been given in a set table form. Each report states briefly: (a) the legal status of the territory; (b) its political and administrative structure; (c) for the States and Territories within the Prench Union (Part I of the Survey), their method of representation in the central organs on the Union; (d) certain basic ec&nomio facts (area?.i,nd population, public services, agricultural production, mining and industrial production, budget and estimated investments, external trade). The particulars given in each case are purposely brief. I am hoping that by this brevity my colleagues will find these reports more convenient for their reference. 10th'March, 1950 - 5".r PART I • • THE FRENCH UNION (excluding Metropolitan Prance) - 6 - A - STRUCTURE OP THE FRENCH UNION «' THE FRENCH UNION (a) Fundamental Principles and definition of the French Union. Fundamental Principles; 1. The Preamble of the Constitution of 27th October 1946 lays down the principles which have always characterised French overseas policy, but in a more definite form; "France shall form a Union with the overseas peoples based on equality of rights and obligations, without distinction of race or religion." This concept of equality does not however mean that these countries are all to be completely assimilated. On the contrary, the Preamble goes on to state: "The French Union shall be composed of nations and peoples who chall pool or co-ordinate their resources and their efforta in order to develop their respective civilisations, increase their prosperity and safeguard their security." These two ideas of equality and of respect for the personality of these territories are combined under the control of France in order to promote their progress: "Loyal to its traditional mission, France under- takes to guide the peoples under its charge towards self-govern- ment and the administration of their own affairs in c. democratic way; rejecting any system of colonisation based on arbitrary- procedure, it guarantees to all equal access to public functions (7- Afrpi ( R 0 V and the individual and collective exercise of the rights and freedoms proclaimed or confirmed above." These principles are put into operation in Section VIII, which we will now examine.. Definition of the French Union 2. Under Article 60, the French Uninn is defined as follows: "The French Union consists, on the one hand, of the French Republic, comprising Metropolitan France, the Overseas Departments and Territories; and on the other, of the associated Territories and States." There is a fundamental purpose behind this stru5ture: the pooling of total resources to guarantee the defence of the whole Union, for whioh a certain directing incentive is necessary. It is for this reason that the Government of the Republic assumes the task of co-ordinating these resources and directing the policy necessary for preparing and ensuring this defence. ,'b ) Structure of the French Union The French Union having been thus defined, it is now necessary to ascertain its precise composition. The attached table will set this out e>learly (cf, page ) i) The Central Bodies $, The French Union possesses central organs to ensure cohesion. In accordance with Article 63 of the Constitution these are the Presidency, the Supreme Council and the Assembly. These three organs have differing characteristics and powers, The President of the Republic is the President of the French Union, As President of the Union, he has special powers. He represents the permanent interests of the Union, He presides over the Supreme Council. He convenes the Assembly of the French Union and closes its sessions. By reason of his role in the Government of the Republic, however, he also participates in the administration of the Union since, in accordance with Article 62, the Government of the Republic ensures the co-ordination of the means of- defence of the Union and the direction of the policy for preparing and ensuring this defence. AOAPI (50)3 The Supreme Council of fhe Union was set up under Article 65 of the Constitution, and its organisation determined by the law of 24th April, 1949. In accor- dance with the provisions of Article 65, and in development thereof, the law of 24th April provides under Article 1 that the Supreme Council> under the Chairmanship of the President of the Union, shall assist the Government of the Republic in the general administration of the Union. It is a governmental advisory .."body. It is composed of two parts, consisting on the one hand of a delegation of certain Ministers from the French Government and, on the other, of a representation from the associated States. As these States are self- governing in their domestic affairs, the law does not stipulate the number of members of this representation nor the method of their appointment. It merely refers to the special agreements concluded between France and such States. The Assembly of the French Union, the third central organ of the Union, is provided for under Article 66 of the Cons oitution. One half of its members represent Metropolitan France and the other half represent the Overseas "departements" and Territories and the associated States. Its composition and electoral system are laid down under the law of 27th O.ctober, 1946. The members representing the Metropolitan territory are elected by the Metropolitan members of the National Assembly and the Council of the Republic. The members representing the Overseas countries are elected, as the case may be, by the "D.epar to mental" Councils, the Territorial Assemblies, the Algerian Assembly, or are appointed by the associated States in accordance with their own particular methods. The Assembly of the French Union is a Consultative Assembly. It co-operates with both the legislative and executive bodies. It takes cognizance of the plans or Proposals which are submitted to it for an opinion by the National Assembly, the Government of the French Republic or the Governments of the associated States, ^t may also submit proposals to the National Assembly, to the Government and to the Supreme Council, These proposals,in order to be admissible, must relate to the legislation of the Overseas Territories. ii) The Local Bodies 4. These three central bodies of the French Union thus constitute the head of the whole administration of the Union, They can only assume their full importance - 10 - AG/WP1(50)3 if they have, under their authority, local bodies which provide the French Union with its element of diversity, enabling it to adapt itself to extremely varying situations.. We shall ex amine in turn Algeria, the Overseas "Beparte-"t ments", the Overseas Territories and the associated States, Algeria, which consists of a group of "departements", has its own particular Statute. The affairs of the S""Deps:r*eneilts"of which Algeria is comprised "are administered by three Councils, Matters of common concern are entrusted to the Algerian Assembly. The"ex-colonies" of Guadeloupe, Guiana, Martinique and Reunion became overseas "Departernents" under the law of 19th March, 1946, Their loc-.il affairs are admin- istered by "Departernents" Councils, but since they come fully under metropolitan legislation and administration subject to the exceptions contained in the law itself, the central authority exercises much more extensive control over them than elsewhere.
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