Posted on 05/29/2005 8:04:31 PM PDT by Pikamax
Europe stunned
Leader Monday May 30, 2005
Guardian
France's emphatic rejection of the EU constitutional treaty is a stunning blow at a time when the continent faces grave economic problems and political challenges. Much comment in recent weeks has suggested that a no vote, while embarrassing, could be shrugged off, since the treaty of Nice will allow the union to carry on functioning.
But that misses the point that the constitution was agreed unanimously by 25 member states representing 455 million people from Helsinki to the Azores and from Nicosia to Warsaw. It represents a considerable investment of political capital and is a carefully-crafted compromise between different visions of the union, streamlining its functioning and boosting its clout in a world dominated by an unassailably powerful US. Despite the dire warnings of eurosceptics, it sets limits on integration. Its defeat - by 55% - 45% according to initial official figures - is very bad news for those who want a more coherent Europe punching at its weight. The value of the euro dipped on foreign exchanges last week in response to signs that the nos were holding their lead. Americans, Chinese and Indians, vying for advantage in an interdependent world, will be able to get their way more easily if Europeans are in disarray.
Rejection by France makes the blow doubly painful. It is true that the reasons for the no victory seem to be less about the treaty itself than the country's crisis over its place in an enlarged Europe, the failure of its political class and a reluctance to confront the challenges of globalisation. But the vote marks an alarming retreat from its historic role as a keen European and motor of integration.
Deference to the Dutch referendum on Wednesday meant that official responses to last night's extraordinary result were muted. But it is already clear that there is no point in pretending that the process of ratification should go ahead as if nothing had happened. It is regrettable that France's no means there will be no need for a referendum in this country to clarify, perhaps once and for all, what Britons want from their relationship with the rest of Europe. If there is no constitution to ratify, there is no need for a UK vote. Demands by eurosceptics anxious to provoke a terminal crisis should be firmly resisted.
France's no is highly damaging to the credibility and popularity of the EU, already in very poor shape as shown by the record low turnout in the European elections last summer. But much more than credibility is at stake. The immediate effect of this crisis is that it is hard to imagine that Turkey will be able to begin its membership talks in October, since anti-Turkish feeling was a key issue of the French and Dutch no campaigns. Prospects for agreement on the EU budget for 2007-2003 will also recede. It had been hoped that this could be settled before Tony Blair takes over the presidency on July 1. With Germany facing new elections in the autumn that mammoth task will have to be put off until next year, dangerously close to the deadline.
Much will be said in the coming days about salutary wake-up calls, heard when Denmark and Sweden rejected euro membership and Ireland the Nice treaty. But there will be nothing salutary about this failure if governments retreat from Europe into navel-gazing and narrow national agendas. If Britain carries on demanding its money back in the row over the budget it is far from inconceivable that others will demand their sovereignty back, or resist the call to dismantle protective trade barriers.
The idea of an integrationist Franco-German core emerging from the rubble seems fanciful: what do the two biggest and most underperforming economies in the eurozone have to offer by way of leadership? It will take time for the dust to settle. But even when it has, it is far from certain that the way ahead will be clear.
Somebody posted a vanity a few years ago misspelling "beeper" as "beeber". I don't remember if it was the same person that also misspelled "serious" as "series" and "huge" as "hugh", but we've had to live with it ever since. Those misspellings have to rank among the Internet's most worn-out jokes.
That little pissant country dares stand in the way of continental socialization?
You forgot the mooses who bit the sisters.
LOL!
Yes, but the moose who bit the sister is taken from the opening credits from Monty Python and the Holy Grail....which are worth seeing in their own right, beyond the rest of the movie...
It reminds me of how my young son will continually repeat an action or joke that we've laughed at. After he's done it 500 times, he can't figure out why we don't still find it funny.
streamlining its function = eliminating the ability of nations to object to being screwed.
This was not a constitution it was a tool for subjegation.
On Greek TV one expert said he wished they called it something other than "constitution".
I was an abortion of various parts. It was not "crafted" with a vision to a grander vision. IT was generated for the objective of containment of individual nation disention. It put bureacrats before government and before the people.
A leash for the citizens.
Europe sucks.
Europe is an exclusively Christian continent and as long as this fact is omitted from the constitution, no state is gonna accept it. They should follow our Forefathers and make sure that Christianity is mentioned in their constitution, else it will fail.
So the people who voted no are just a bunch of ignorant rabble who just don't know what's good for them.
Thanks for clearing that up, guys...
Clearly. Can't understand why they would be mocked for this.
Maybe, but some countries suck much more. Like Mexico.
As will Italy's Berlusconi, Japan's Koizumi, Poland's current leadership, Australia's Howard, and Blair.
In other words, all of the major pro-Iraq-war politicians (Spain excluded) remain in office with the political backing of 50% or more of their voters, while the 2 major anti-Iraq-War leaders, Chirac and Schroeder, are about to be kicked out of office by their voters...
...political *facts* that completely burst the media myth of an unpopular war, by the way.
Stunned?
I don't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.
All your beeber are belonging to us, since my once bit a sister moose. That were a hughly wired day; series.
Affected it me as like this vote not effect the bureausprouts in Brussles.
*scratching head* Have you been to Europe or spoken to any Europeans lately? The continent is predominantly atheist and agnostic, with a few Christians left and an increasing Muslim population.
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