The Honorable Aristide Briand, Foreign Minister of France announced today the establishment of the "French Union". It has begun as a Department of the Ministry for Colonies, and it will have two functions:
1) Prepare French colonies politically, culturally, economically, and militarily for decisions concerning self-determination.
2) Provide a structure for continued political, cultural, economic, and military relations between members of the French Union subsequent to their decisions concerning self-determination.
Options for self-determination include, but are not limited to:
Continuation as a Colonial possession of France.
Incorporation into the Republic of France, with colonial subjects in the colony concerned gaining all the rights and duties of French citizenship.
Full independence.
Despite its beginning as a Department of the Ministry for Colonies, it is envisioned that the day will come when there is a Department of Colonies within the Ministry of Union Affairs.
Foreign Minister Briand commented:
"It is clear that the day is coming when arrangements that have been mutually suitable in the colonies of France may no longer be so. We think it wise to prepare for that day, lest it come upon us of its own volition."