Some more thoughts about the euroconstitution
As one could expect, the politicians all over the EU are trying hard to salvage at least a little of what's left of the “Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe” after the French 'no' vote on Sunday. I would say it's good that the “Constitution” was rejected by France rather than by, let's say, Czech Republic. It is thus impossible to ignore there is probably something wrong about the whole concept. I mean, there is nothing inherently wrong about closer cooperation but why on earth do we need another treaty to achieve that? I confess I am not a big fan of, for example, an EU-wide foreign policy; the furious reaction of the French president Chirac to the decision of new EU members to support US-led invasion of Iraq was enough to make me think twice if it's good for my country to quietly accept what the big states in the EU would dictate.
But back to the Treaty for Europe (I shall not call it a “constitution” since it is not). It seems the politicians will not take no for an answer. “The ratification of the EU constitution should continue despite the French No, according to the leaders of the bloc's top institutions.” Of course, they probably hope the remaining 16 states will say 'yes' and then, maybe, a second attempt in French referendum would succeed.
They also try to spin the result so it looks like the 'yes' camp was actually bigger:
According to the Luxembourg prime minister and current EU chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, "If we were to add up all the votes of those who wanted ‘more Europe’ as a yes then I think that we would have had a yes vote".
Oh please, a no is a no. Not a qualified no, nor a qualified yes. Granted, the French 'no' camp is an odd mixture of ultra-right and ultra-left parties and moderates, and the referendum was more about internal politics rather than EU but I would think you can't separate these two. Clearly, it's difficult to convince voters the treaty is good for them when some depict it as “preserving the French model” while others claim it's ultra-liberal and will destroy the social(ist) achievements.
The next referendum is in the Netherlands on Wednesday. It is likely the Dutch say no, too. Even then, the EU business will go on as usual, only this time the politicians will really have to listen to what the EU citizens have to say.