Posted on 06/15/2005 7:51:39 AM PDT by Unam Sanctam
It was a crucial mistake to send out the entire constitution to every French voter, the architect of the EU's first constitution Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has said in an interview.
In an interview with the New York Times, his first since the French rejection of the constitution two weeks ago, the former French president apportions most of the blame to president Jacques Chirac for failure in the referendum campaign.
One crucial mistake was to send out the entire three-part, 448-article document to every French voter, said Mr Giscard.
Over the phone he had warned Mr Chirac already in March: "I said, 'Don't do it, don't do it'".
"It is not possible for anyone to understand the full text".
Mr Giscard d'Estaing also puts the blame on the present generation of political leaders.
Neither Mr Chirac nor other European leaders had a strategy for ratifying the constitution, he said.
"The present generation of leaders, whatever their strengths, never put Europe at the top of their agenda".
Mr Giscard d'Estaing was appointed by EU leaders at the Laeken summit in December 2001 to head a 102-member convention and draft a European Constitution.
Today Mr Giscard believes the constitution probably would have passed in France if the EU leaders had not left open the possibility of full EU membership for Turkey.
This week the bloc's leaders will meet in Brussels to decide the fate of the constitution, or "my document", as Mr Giscard puts it.
The ratification process should continue across Europe, the former president advises and predicts: "In the end, it will pass", he added. "There is no better solution".
Your comment says it all - If their Constitution had been written so precise and concise, it might have passed.
I don't often get shocked, and least often by anything the French may or may not do, but this floors me.
Yep, only political elites have the necessary brainpower to comprehend such a document.
Our own open borders elites won't make this mistake when they create the North American Union.
There is a reason why Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is the only President of the Fifth Republic to have failed to be re-elected by the people.
And he continues to manifest that reason all of these years later.
Restrain the nature, it returns at a gallop. Giscard's arrogance is the reason Giscard is a political failure.
I often sign 488 page legal documents that not only I don't understand, but it is impossible for anyone to understand.
bttt
This quote says all you need to know....
Should have sent it only to voters supporting it?
I can't think of a stronger argument against ratifying any proposed constitution that this observation of Giscard.
d'Estaing is still alive?
Well, here's the documents our guys are putting together.
You bet we won't be voting on it.
http://www.cfr.org/pub7914/press_release/trinational_call_for_a_north_american_economic_and_security_community_by_2010.php
http://www.cfr.org/pub8104/press_release/task_force_urges_measures_to_strengthen_north_american_competitiveness_expand_trade_ensure_border_security.php
Man, that pesky democracy....don't you just hate it when the people get in the way of the elites deciding what's good for them.
Translation: "Vote first, and learn what you've voted for afterward. In fact, just shut up and vote."
Wouldn't that be a good reason to reject it?
I look at ours, note what has happened to it over the past 216 years, and can easily understand why they might value precision over brevity.
fyi
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