772.00/5–1852
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Consul General at Tunis (Jernegan)
Subject:
- French Thinking Regarding Reforms in Tunisia.
Participants:
- Mr. Jean Binoche, Head of the Africa-Middle East Section of the French Foreign Office
- Consul General John D. Jernegan
Mr. Binoche, who was making a short visit to Tunis in company with the French Minister of Veteran’s Affairs, called at my house to discuss briefly the current status of affairs in Tunis. He told me in strict confidence that there were two schools of thought in the French Government regarding the next step to be taken in an effort to break the existing deadlock. One school held that the Government should adhere to its previously announced intention of creating a Mixed Commission to elaborate political reforms on the basis of the instructions sent to Resident General in March. The other school held that such a Commission could not possibly arrive at any positive result and that the best plan would be for the French Government itself to draw up the reform program and simply impose it on Tunisia at the earliest possible moment. In view of this second school, the technical details of the reforms (such as the exact manner in which the elections might be held) could be worked out by a Mixed Technical Commission, but this would be quite a different thing from the originally proposed Mixed Commission.
Mr. Binoche said that the main purpose of his visit to Tunis was to help his Government arrive at a decision between these two points of view. He had not yet completed his investigations but his present thinking was that a compromise might be desirable. Reforms giving the Tunisian Ministers greater administrative authority and the Tunisians greater access to Government jobs might be drawn up and imposed by the French Government, whereas the creation of a National Assembly could be left to some sort of Commission inasmuch as elections to such an Assembly could not be organized quickly in any case.
In connection with the question of a National Assembly, Mr. Binoche remarked that there was a difference of opinion between the Bey and the French Government as the former wanted to appoint all members, whereas the latter proposed an elective body. I remarked that I did not see how the Bey could maintain his position inasmuch as the Tunisian nationalists themselves were insisting upon an elected Assembly. It occurred to me, however, that one might start by having the Bey appoint an interim Assembly which could then itself prepare plans for a representative elective body.
[Page 757]I emphasized that I thought speed was essential and said I was inclined to agree with the thesis that in the present circumstances the only way to arrive at reforms was for the French Government to present them as fait accompli. I did not think it would be possible for a representative Mixed Commission to agree on anything.
As usual, Mr. Binoche spoke of the great difficulty of dealing with the North African problem because of the presence of such large numbers of French settlers in the area. They could not be abandoned to their fate and it was therefore not possible to treat North Africa as Syria, Lebanon and Indo China had been treated.