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And the Dutch are to follow with a no vote.
This is a good move. No need to accept a bad constitution.
One thing that's funny from an outsider's point of view is that the yes camp is saying all sorts of horrific things will happen if the treaty is rejected. An apocalapse. I bet these kind of scary pronouncements only hurt the yes cause. They sound desperate.
The no camp is saying some stupid stuff too. They make it sound as if France will become the 51st US state, if the yes vote wins.
Polls show a no lead of 54% - 46%.
From the Guardian...
This is a good move. No need to accept a bad constitution.
One thing that's funny from an outsider's point of view is that the yes camp is saying all sorts of horrific things will happen if the treaty is rejected. An apocalapse. I bet these kind of scary pronouncements only hurt the yes cause. They sound desperate.
The no camp is saying some stupid stuff too. They make it sound as if France will become the 51st US state, if the yes vote wins.
Polls show a no lead of 54% - 46%.
From the Guardian...
French non a disaster for world says EU chief
Jon Henley in Paris and Patrick Wintour
Thursday May 26, 2005
The Guardian
A no vote in France's referendum on the European constitution on Sunday would be a catastrophe for the entire world, EU president Jean-Claude Juncker warned yesterday.
Mr Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, said a French no could have a major impact on foreign investment in the union, and repeated that there was no question of the treaty being renegotiated if France's voters - as 10 polls in a row have predicted - decide to blow a Gallic raspberry to both their centre-right government and the treaty.
"If there is a 'no' on Sunday in France, that would be a catastrophe for France, for [French president Jacques] Chirac and for the entire world," Mr Juncker, who holds the EU's rotating presidency until July 1, said in an interview with Belgian daily Le Soir.
"Imagine if you are head of a business in Texas or unionist in Bolivia or head of a business in Shanghai and see Europe like that ... saying 'no'," he added. "International observers will not know where Europe is going."
Doomsayers are growing in number ahead of Sunday's vote. Lord Kinnock, the former European commissioner, yesterday became the most senior Labour figure to foresee the treaty unravelling.
"I am pretty certain we are not going to have a referendum now because the French are going to do what they will do on Sunday and that is kill the treaty stone dead," he told a Labour meeting in London.
"And if you have not got a treaty, there is no point having a referendum."
He said the reversal would keep the Europe issue prominent in British politics. "The fact will remain that across parties, but especially in Labour, we will have to engage in demystifying the EU by demonstrating how little it costs and what it does."
The constitution, aimed at making the now 25-nation EU more efficient and more democratic, must be ratified by every member state to come into force. The latest poll puts the no vote in France on 54%, and in the Netherlands - which votes three days later - on 57%.
The beleaguered French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, insisted yesterday that the referendum's outcome was still in the balance, and called on voters not to use the vote to punish his government for continuing high unemployment and unpopular economic and social reforms.
A separate poll showed public confidence in the prime minister had fallen to a record low, with just 28% of voters saying they trusted him to tackle the key challenges facing France. Mr Chirac's personal approval rating was stable at 44%. The government's unpopularity is one of the key obstacles facing the yes camp in the last days of its campaign: many observers believe endorsements of the treaty by Mr Raffarin are now counter-productive.
But the prime minister insisted yesterday that "nothing is settled". He said France must "open its heart to Europe", and urged voters not to take aim at the wrong target.
Dutch politicians have suggested a second referendum may be held if the Netherlands rejects the constitution, but Mr Raffarin has ruled out a second vote in France.
Jon Henley in Paris and Patrick Wintour
Thursday May 26, 2005
The Guardian
A no vote in France's referendum on the European constitution on Sunday would be a catastrophe for the entire world, EU president Jean-Claude Juncker warned yesterday.
Mr Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, said a French no could have a major impact on foreign investment in the union, and repeated that there was no question of the treaty being renegotiated if France's voters - as 10 polls in a row have predicted - decide to blow a Gallic raspberry to both their centre-right government and the treaty.
"If there is a 'no' on Sunday in France, that would be a catastrophe for France, for [French president Jacques] Chirac and for the entire world," Mr Juncker, who holds the EU's rotating presidency until July 1, said in an interview with Belgian daily Le Soir.
"Imagine if you are head of a business in Texas or unionist in Bolivia or head of a business in Shanghai and see Europe like that ... saying 'no'," he added. "International observers will not know where Europe is going."
Doomsayers are growing in number ahead of Sunday's vote. Lord Kinnock, the former European commissioner, yesterday became the most senior Labour figure to foresee the treaty unravelling.
"I am pretty certain we are not going to have a referendum now because the French are going to do what they will do on Sunday and that is kill the treaty stone dead," he told a Labour meeting in London.
"And if you have not got a treaty, there is no point having a referendum."
He said the reversal would keep the Europe issue prominent in British politics. "The fact will remain that across parties, but especially in Labour, we will have to engage in demystifying the EU by demonstrating how little it costs and what it does."
The constitution, aimed at making the now 25-nation EU more efficient and more democratic, must be ratified by every member state to come into force. The latest poll puts the no vote in France on 54%, and in the Netherlands - which votes three days later - on 57%.
The beleaguered French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, insisted yesterday that the referendum's outcome was still in the balance, and called on voters not to use the vote to punish his government for continuing high unemployment and unpopular economic and social reforms.
A separate poll showed public confidence in the prime minister had fallen to a record low, with just 28% of voters saying they trusted him to tackle the key challenges facing France. Mr Chirac's personal approval rating was stable at 44%. The government's unpopularity is one of the key obstacles facing the yes camp in the last days of its campaign: many observers believe endorsements of the treaty by Mr Raffarin are now counter-productive.
But the prime minister insisted yesterday that "nothing is settled". He said France must "open its heart to Europe", and urged voters not to take aim at the wrong target.
Dutch politicians have suggested a second referendum may be held if the Netherlands rejects the constitution, but Mr Raffarin has ruled out a second vote in France.
at least the left in there has done something right.
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