Regards, Ivan
Posted on 05/31/2005 3:36:56 PM PDT by MadIvan
THE Dutch are expected to deliver a resounding “no” to the European constitution today, killing off the treaty in the wake of rejection by France.
Tony Blair will attempt to pick up the pieces when Britain assumes the European Union’s presidency next month, but President Chirac complicated that task yesterday by appointing Dominique de Villepin as his Prime Minister in place of Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
M de Villepin, whose heroes are Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles de Gaulle, is a staunch nationalist whose views are mostly anathema to Britain.
As Foreign Minister, he fought passionately to stop Britain and the US going to war in Iraq. He champions the state-led French social model over “Anglo-Saxon” economics.
Both M de Villepin and M Chirac promised to inject fresh life into the French economy, but the President emphasised that this would be “with total respect for the French model . . . This model is not one of the Anglo-Saxon type”.
Polls in The Netherlands showed the “yes” campaign trailing by 20 points, and even the most ardent supporters of the constitution admitted that it would be a “small miracle” if they win today. The European Commission and seven member states which have called referendums insisted that ratification would proceed regardless. But officials privately conceded that a second emphatic “no” from a founding member would probably prove fatal.
“There is a limit to what we can say before the Dutch vote. But things will change afterwards if they say ‘no’,” one Commission source admitted.
No country wants to be held responsible for killing the constitution by being first to abandon a referendum, but diplomats said that “everyone is talking to everyone” about how to proceed.
“We don’t want to be the first to say ‘no’. We won’t say ‘no’ unless there is a general decision not to go forward,” said one diplomat from a state which has promised a vote.
In Britain, two leading allies of the Prime Minister made clear that the Prime Minister believes it would be disastrous to try to revive the treaty.
Writing in The Times today, Stephen Byers, the former Transport Secretary and a close friend of Mr Blair, says that calls for another vote in France betray the sort of “institutional arrogance” that the French public rejected.
“By their decisive vote, the people of France have killed the European Constitutional Treaty,” he says. “It would be a grave mistake . . . to ignore or try to explain away this expression of popular feeling.”
Lord Kinnock of Bedwellty, the former Labour leader and EU commissioner, said that the period of reflection that Mr Blair had requested in the wake of the French vote “can only sensibly come to one conclusion . . . Referendums produce results and results have to be lived with.”
Officials said that Mr Byers and Lord Kinnock were both expressing their own views but they are unlikely to have spoken without consulting Mr Blair.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, who holds the EU presidency, will today start a round of meetings to try to find a way through the impasse before the June 16 summit of EU leaders. Mr Blair wants his fellow leaders to use the summit to find a way forward.
Britain is the only country not to have given a clear indication that still it intends to ratify the constitution. All the countries still due to hold referendums — Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic — insist that votes will go ahead.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
If there's still talk about the "European Constitution" after the Dutch give it a +-60% vote, then everyone will know that there is no democracy involved in the EU, just bureaucrats at ridiculous salaries, desperately trying to save said salaries.
Godspeed Ivan
If there's still talk about the "European Constitution" after the Dutch give it a +-60% vote, then everyone will know that there is no democracy involved in the EU, just bureaucrats at ridiculous salaries, desperately trying to save said salaries.
Godspeed Ivan
Reminds me to get some Amstel.
I think I heard on the radio this morning that it would take six nations to reject adoption of the EU constitution. Does that mean if less than six reject it, that it would apply to countries that have said no? Anyone know?
Totally nebulous. It's dead, or will be after tomorrow's dutch vote.
Is the French non evidence of French national socialism? Are the French unwilling to go international in their socialism, or are they simply too nationalistic?
France is a silly place. The people complain about the economy not being strong, then complain that the social programs are not large enough. I think the French have a total lack of knowledge about anything except how great they are, whoops were.
But I'm afraid the only message the French government and other europeanists are taking from this is that they should never allow the people to decide important questions.
The French got something right, for a change. I hope that the Dutch say "NO" to the elite's globalist scheme as well.
Every country in the EU should go Dutch - pay your own way.
So, what convoluted and self-contradictory reasons are being invented for the Dutch "nein" (nejn?)?
>France is a silly place.<
France is a beautiful place. Problem is, too many Frenchmen and Muslims.
They were ever great? They got their a$$es kicked by the Brits in the days of Agincourt, Napoleon couldn't win the big ones, their Revolution was an abomination, the Prussians kicked their a$$ three times, and the Viets and Algerians kicked their a$$es, too.
Yeah, their food IS good.
The Dutch will vote no....
they saw what Islam has done for their country....
and the UK will cancel their vote altogether.
They just don't get it.
Is Chirac and the elite so arrogant that they think they can push this down peoples' throats?
Did the vote results mean nothing to them?
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.