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Panicked Chirac may call early vote on EU Constitution
President Jacques Chirac may consult all French political parties in the next few days on an early date for France's referendum on the European Union constitution. Faced with opinion polls, published and unpublished, showing a draining of support for the treaty, M. Chirac is said to be considering a referendum on 22 May, instead of in early or mid June. Opponents of the treaty say the government is showing signs of "panic". The longer the French people consider the treaty, the more likely they are to vote against it, they say. M. Chirac has therefore been forced to consider a snap poll.The Elysée Palace said a referendum "could take place in May, just as well as June" but rejected suggestions that the President's hand was being forced. Pro-government members of parliament said June was a "bad month" for elections in France because it was littered with public holidays. Opinion polls have shown a gradual erosion of support for the treaty in France. In part, this is because the question has become infected by other issues, ranging from Turkish membership of the EU to the unpopularity of Jean-Pierre Raffarin's centre-right government. At the same time, arguments against the treaty by the extremes of left and right have begun to shake the support of a mainstream electorate which has barely considered the text. The "no" campaign has been in full swing for several weeks; the "yes" campaign has not begun. The Senate, the upper house, gave a first reading yesterday to a change in the French constitution, allowing the referendum to go ahead. It has been passed by the National Assembly, and M. Chirac is expected to announce this week the date of a meeting of both houses to amend the constitution. This would lift one of the remaining obstacles to a referendum. The others are largely technical and relate to how soon copies of the proposed constitution and the wording of the referendum question can be printed and distributed to the 41.5 million voters. Officials suggest 22 May is the earliest feasible date. Opinion polls originally showed support for the new constitution above 65 per cent. Private polls by the government have warned it is likely to be lower, and recent public surveys have shown support of below 60 per cent. If France rejects the constitution - which streamlines EU decision-making, solidifies some EU powers and creates a permanent president of the EU council - the treaty would be as good as dead. The text could barely survive rejection by popular vote in any member state, and certainly not in such a large and key founder state as France. Government confidence was high in December when a vote within the main opposition party, the Socialists, showed it was strongly in favour of the treaty. Many more radical Socialists, and parties further to the left, reject it as an "ultra-liberal" Anglo-Saxon conspiracy to abolish the continental model of the welfare state. On the right, although formally supported by all mainstream parties, the treaty is seen by some as an erosion of national sovereignty. Despite a government promise that Turkish membership would be put to a separate vote, many right-wing politicians argue that a vote against the constitution would be the best way to kill Turkish membership stone dead. Posted by: Bulldog 2005-02-20 |
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