§ Mr. Cocksasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether he has received from the French National Committee their plans for the administration of French liberated territory; and whether he can make a statement on the subject;
(2) whether it has been agreed that when the Allies land in France they will co-operate with such French authorities as are approved by the French National Committee or by the leaders of the resistance movement on the spot and not with representatives of the Vichy administration.
§ Mr. EdenI presume the hon. Member is referring to the Ordinance adopted by the French Committee on 14th March, which has since been published in the Press. A copy of this document was communicated to the British representative at Algiers on 30th March. The provisions of the Ordinance are, of course, being studied by the competent British and American authorities in connection with the proposed arrangements for the administration of French territory liberated by the Allied armies, which, as I informed the hon. Member on 22nd March, are now under examination. I am not, therefore, in a position to make any2016W further statement on this matter at present. I can, however, assure the hon. Member that there is naturally no intention on the part of ourselves or our American Allies to have anything to do with the renegade authorities of Vichy.