French Reject EU Code

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French voters dealt a crushing blow to plans for greater political integration in Europe, with about 55 percent saying “no” to the EU constitution in a referendum. The “no” vote stood at 54.87 percent, against 45.13 percent for the “yes” camp, according to final results released by the Interior Ministry early Monday, May 30, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). Of the country's 41.7 million registered voters, more than 15.4 million people cast their ballot against the landmark EU charter while some 12.7 million people voted in favor. The abstention rate stood at 30.26 percent. In Paris, more than two in three voters cast ballots to approve the treaty, bucking the national trend, according to results released by the city hall. The constitution, hammered out during three years of delicate negotiations, is supposed to give the EU the framework for streamlined decision-making following the historic enlargement of the bloc last year to include 10 mostly ex-communist eastern European countries. It also aims to boost the international profile of the EU with a president and foreign minister. The “no” campaign in France capitalized on voters worries about the threat to jobs coming from low-cost eastern European countries that joined the EU last year. "Developments" Soon Following the results, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin met Monday at the Elysee with President Jacques Chirac amid speculation that he will present his resignation. He told reporters upon his return to Matignon after the 30-minute meeting that there "will be developments during the day or tomorrow". Raffarin, 56, was widely expected to leave office following Sunday's defeat of the EU constitution in the nationwide referendum. He took office after Chirac's 2002 election victory, but earlier this month his disapproval ratings were the highest for a prime minister in recent history. Late Sunday Chirac hinted at an imminent reshuffle, saying in a televised address to the nation that he would give "a new and strong impulse to government action." Raffarin's replacement was widely predicted to be Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin. However the head of the ruling UMP party Nicolas Sarkozy was also being named as a possibility. Sources told AFP that Sarkozy would see Chirac during the morning. The “no” vote would likely deal a harsh blow to 72-year-old Chirac, who just celebrated 10 years in office, and compromise his political legacy. Nail in the Coffin Analysts said France has unleashed what will likely be a prolonged period of soul-searching in the European Union, after the stunning vote drove a nail into the coffin of its as-yet-unborn constitution. “I think it's really a nail in the coffin of the constitutional treaty to be honest,” said Marco Incerti of the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies think tank. The vote made France, one of the EU's six founding members and long a key force in its half-century development, the first to reject the treaty, which must be ratified by all members to come into force. The Dutch will voted on the constitution on Wednesday, June 1, with polls suggesting that they are likely to turn it down as well. “With a French no -- and a very strong French no -- a Dutch no is very likely,” Incerti said. Not Dead For all the gloom, few are talking about a full-blown collapse of the EU with European leaders insisting that the bloc's constitution is not dead despite the French rejection. The 25-member bloc's Luxembourg presidency regretted the French “no” vote, which raises huge questions about the future of the EU charter. “The treaty is not dead,” said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. “The process of ratification must continue in the other countries,” he told reporters. In a joint statement with the head of the EU Commission and the European Parliament, Juncker noted that on a day-to-day level the EU will continue to function on its current rule book, the 2000 Nice Treaty. “We regret this choice coming from a member state which has for 50 years been a key motor in building our joint future,” they said. But they added: “Today Europe continues and its institutions are fully operational. We are aware of the difficulties but we have confidence that we will once again find the means to take the EU forwards. We are determined to contribute to that together.” Juncker even raised the possibility that France could hold another vote after the two-year ratification process ends in October 2006. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the French rejection was "a setback" but did not spell the end of the road for the treaty. “The outcome of the referendum is a setback for the process of ratifying the constitution, but not its end,” he said emphatically. EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso sought to salvage something positive from the French rejection, which had been widely forecast by opinion polls in recent weeks. “We must transform this difficult moment into an opportunity for Europe,” he said. "We should try together to put Europe back on track.”

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