Posted on 03/23/2005 2:21:36 PM PST by quidnunc
It was not supposed to happen this fast. When President Jacques Chirac decided to advance France's referendum on the draft European Union constitution to May 29th, the idea was to avoid the “Maastricht scenario”. In 1992 support for that treaty sank over the summer months from 65% to just 51%. This time, with two months still left, two new opinion polls suggest that backing for the constitution has already collapsed: the no vote is now at 51-52%. Is France, architect of Europe, really set to reject its first constitution?
A single poll could be a freak. Although the yes vote has clearly been slipping (from 69% in December to 63% in February, according to CSA, the pollster for Le Parisien), such a crumbling of support in one month looks decidedly odd. Yet a second poll conducted by Ipsos for Le Figaro has now agreed with the first one. The yes vote has plunged from 60% in early March to 48%, according to Ipsos (see chart).
The two results could still be a blip. Plenty of voters are undecided, know little about the constitution, or see no great issue at stake. If Maastricht is a guide, prediction is perilous: four weeks before the 1992 yes vote, BVA, another pollster, also registered a no of 51%. The shock of the new polls could also galvanise pro-voters — and higher participation should favour a yes. Stunned French politicians have duly begun to dramatise the vote. Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, a former president who chaired the convention that first drafted the constitution, has talked of an “open crisis” if France says no. Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission, has talked of a “cataclysm”.
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(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Not to worry - they'll continue to vote until they get it "right". Old Leftist trick.
(There is incomprehension over how Brussels failed to grasp French sensitivity.)
Imagine how sensitive Brussels would then be to some of the concerns of much smaller EU countries!
That's how some local school boards get budgets passed. The keep resupmitting until the people against it get tired of voting.
I'm probably wrong, but when they first started talking about this European Union deal I thought the whole idea was to have one single currency. To me, that sounded like a great idea. I think they will regret trying to make themselves into the United States of Europe with one set of rules for everybody. It adds a layer of bureaucracy, it's bound to lead to conflicts, and everybody will end up losing their individual identity. Next thing you know, every town will have their own Wal-Mart.
Alright, I'll contribute some real information. 76.5 percent of Spanish citizens voted in favor of the EU Constitution (which result did not get into the news, much). Italy’s lower house ratified it, and the Italian government, for the most part, is only disappointed that it hasn't finished that business of doing so before the Spanish did.
Hopefully, the French will surprise us again (by voting "nay" to the EU Constitution), as they recently did when telling Syria to get its army out of Lebanon.
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