Posted on 04/20/2005 6:21:54 PM PDT by blam
EU denies free air ticket bribes for Yes vote in French poll
By David Rennie in Brussels
(Filed: 21/04/2005)
The European Commission denied yesterday it was bribing French voters to vote Yes in next month's referendum on the draft constitution.
That was despite its unveiling a scheme to offer free and subsidised transatlantic air tickets to residents of Martinique and France's other overseas territories and departments.
Under France's colonial traditions, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Tahiti are legally treated as parts of the mainland and are known in French as "Dom-Toms". That grants residents of those palm-fringed corners of the world a perfect right to vote in the French constitutional poll on May 29.
In the 1992 French referendum on the Maastricht treaty, the result, which was decided by a margin of less than one per cent, was swung in favour of the Yes camp at the last moment, when France announced the fortuitous arrival of huge numbers of Yes votes from the Dom-Toms.
The commission said it had approved a French request to offer state aid to "offset the permanent disadvantage suffered by the inhabitants of Martinique" and other Dom-Toms trying to reach the EU, thousands of miles away.
The schemes, which uses French government money, will offer students and those on low incomes a subsidy worth €250 (£180) for a return flight, once a year, between Fort-de-France in the Caribbean and France. A second scheme offers free air tickets, under certain conditions, for students living in the Dom-Toms but studying or training in France or another EU country.
Normally the commission frowns on such national subsidies, especially to airlines, but said it was different as the aid would be granted whatever airline was used, making it a pan-European offer. Oddly, airline schedules indicate that flights from Fort-de-France to Paris are offered by only three airlines, all of them French: Air France, Air Caraibes and Air Corse.
A commission spokesman "categorically denied" the decision was linked to polls showing a steady majority for the No camp in France. But Chris Heaton-Harris, a Tory MEP, said: "It is outrageous. The commission clearly thinks 250 euros a year will do the trick again."
Just when you thought Jaques Chirac and the Froggies couldn't sink any lower ......
"are known in French as "Dom-Toms"
"are known in French as "Dum-Dums"
EUgate!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.