Institutions
Article 91 of the constitution stipulated that the institutions of the Community were to be established by 4 April 1959.
These were as follows:
The President of the Community was the President of the French Republic. The member states also took part in his election and he was represented in each state by a High Commissioner. In 1958 President de Gaulle was elected by an absolute majority in all the states.
The Executive Council of the Community met several times a year, in one or other of the capitals, on the summons of the President, who assumed the chair. It was composed of the chiefs of the governments of the different states and the ministers responsible for common affairs.
The Senate of the Community was composed of members of the local assemblies designated by them in numbers proportional to the population of the state. This body was functionally powerless, and after holding two sessions it was abolished in March 1961.
A Community Court of Arbitration, composed of seven judges nominated by the President, gave decisions in disputes between member states.
Because France did not want to become 'a colony of its colonies', African countries did not make up a majority voting bloc and were functionally required to join with French parties in order to gain voting power.
Read more about this topic: French Community
Famous quotes containing the word institutions:
“Schools are generally feminine places, institutions where conformity is valued, taught largely by conformist women.”
—Judith M. Bardwick (b. 1933)
“The whole history of civilisation is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“Have we no culture, no refinement,—but skill only to live coarsely and serve the Devil?—to acquire a little worldly wealth, or fame, or liberty, and make a false show with it, as if we were all husk and shell, with no tender and living kernel to us? Shall our institutions be like those chestnut burs which contain abortive nuts, perfect only to prick the fingers?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)