If the most immediate issue facing Brussels is what to do about the constitution, the most pressing long-run challenge the EU faces is how to reconcile its need to create economic growth and jobs, and the desire of voters, especially in France, Germany and Italy, to preserve their generous, but unsustainable, welfare state. That is the real question Europe's leaders must grapple with, if the continent is to regain confidence in itself.
European Leaders May Scrap Constitution
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Today: June 02, 2005 at 12:40:55 PDT
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -
0602europe-charter European leaders faced the possibility of having to scrap the proposed EU constitution Thursday after Dutch voters rejected it by a massive margin, voicing their concern over dwindling national identity in a rapidly expanding union and increasingly powerful bureaucrats.
The outcome in the Netherlands from the referendum Wednesday - three days after a similar vote in France - was likely to halt the European momentum, which had been welcomed by some as creating a new world power but disdained by others as smothering their cultures in a vast superstate.
Latvia, meanwhile, became the 10th EU nation to approve the charter, but with the clear rejections by two founding EU members this week, there seemed no hope for salvaging the document in its present form.
EU leaders have stressed that the constitution - which needs approval from all 25 EU nations either by referendum or parliamentary vote to take effect - cannot be renegotiated. But the EU Commission in Brussels said Thursday that leaders would use a June 16-17 summit to discuss the possibility of crafting a new constitution.
Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende conceded defeat Wednesday night and said his government would accept the will of the people. He acknowledged the huge gap that has emerged between the politicians and the electorate.
"The idea of Europe has lived for the politicians, but not the Dutch people. That will have to change," he said. "We will need to bring across the message that there are doubts here about the fast pace of change, the Dutch identity and other, financial, concerns."
Balkenende consulted by phone with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other EU officials in the hours after the Dutch results became clear.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder rushed to Luxembourg for a one-day to discuss future European policy with Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, Schroeder's spokesman said.
Blair's government isn't saying yet what will become of its plans to put the constitution to British voters in a referendum that had been penciled in for next year, but most assume it's now certain to be called off. It's hard to imagine a "yes" vote in wary Britain after two of the EU's founding members resoundingly rejected the charter.
"The verdict of these referendums now raises profound questions for all of us about the future direction of Europe," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in London.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said EU laws, regulations and bureaucracy could now be up for discussion.
"One can naturally discuss certain questions, the too many laws, the too many regulations, the bureaucracy," he told reporters.
With 99.8 percent of the Dutch ballots counted, unofficial results showed 61.6 percent voted "no," while 38.4 percent said "yes." The level of opposition and the turnout of 63 percent exceeded all projections.
The vote was seen by some as symbolic of an introverted attitude by the Dutch in recent years as they struggle do deal with issues such as integration, a shrinking economy and fears over Islamic radicalism.
It was the first vote held in the Netherlands on the Dutch involvement with Europe, and opponents spoke of a breakthrough for European democracy. The extent of the opposition was a shock to the political establishment, which campaigned for the charter until the final hours of voting.
Balkenende's unpopular government itself was partially blamed for the defeat. The Algemeen Dagblad daily said the government "could not remain without facing consequences," calling on Balkenende to dismiss members of his Cabinet.
Unlike French President Jacques Chirac, who fired his prime minister after the French no vote, Balkenende has said there will be no political fallout.
Gerrie Elfrink, a young Dutch Socialist Party city council member, said politicians had conceived the idea of a united Europe behind closed doors without consulting the people.
"We in Holland, we feel Dutch. We want to work together with France, Germany and England. But we want to be Dutch. Europe exists only in the minds of politicians in Brussels," he said.
"This is the first time in decades we could say something and we said, 'It's gone too far.'"
Harry van Bommel, who led the "no" campaign for the Socialist Party, was cheered by hundreds of revelers as he arrived at celebrations in Amsterdam. "It's the people - who for 50 years had to keep quiet about the direction, structure and future of Europe - who won tonight."
Geert Wilders, a right-wing member of parliament whose tough line on immigration has attracted many former Fortuyn voters, said he was "incredibly happy that the Dutch voter has rubbed it in the faces of the political elite in The Hague and Brussels."
Lawmakers in Latvia, one of 10 EU newcomers who joined the bloc the EU last year, voted 71-5 Thursday to approve the charter, with 24 legislators abstaining or absent.
"This was a symbolic step ... that shows that Latvia and other new member states are for the new united Europe and its fundamental law," said Janis Lagzdins, chairman of the government coalition People's Party's faction in Parliament.