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| Europe |
| Chirac and Schröder facing rebuff on pleas for more EU referendums |
| 2005-06-12 |
| Europe's leaders were yesterday at odds over the future of the EU constitution, with demands growing for the treaty to be put on ice indefinitely. Jacques Chirac, French president, and Gerhard Schröder, German chancellor, yesterday said in Paris they believed the ratification of the treaty should go ahead, in spite of the French and Dutch No votes. But European leaders are expected to conclude at next week's EU summit in Brussels that pressing ahead with referendums on the treaty in the current climate would be to invite further rejections. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark's prime minister, said the ratification could not continue until Mr Chirac and Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, explained how they intend to overcome their No votes. "It must be up to the French and Dutch governments to present a solution," he said. Denmark is expected to join Britain in suspending its planned referendum indefinitely. Neither Mr Chirac nor Mr Balkenende is expected to be able to provide a solution in the summit, since an offer to hold a second referendum on the same treaty would create domestic uproar. The problems of ratifying the treaty after the double No votes was illustrated when a new Portuguese opinion poll showed a referendum in that country could be hard to win. It predicted an extremely close result, with 50.8 per cent voting Yes and 49.2 per cent No - a sharp fall in support for the constitutional treaty. Margot Wallström, European Commission vice-president, broke ranks with the official line when she said the ratification process "has de facto been put on hold". "One can no longer ask for a Danish referendum to take place," she told Politiken newspaper. But both Mr Chirac and Mr Schröder insisted that all other member states should proceed with ratification. "I think that respect for others and for democracy implies that the ratification process continues," Mr Chirac said. In adopting that position, Mr Chirac hopes to deflect blame for "killing" the constitution from France to those leaders who want to postpone their referendums - notably Tony Blair, Britain's prime minister. Mr Chirac's tactic of diverting attention from his own political embarrassment has already been highly successful in the case of the British rebate from the EU budget, which is also up for discussion at next week's summit. The hardening of positions in London and Paris has dampened hopes of a budget agreement at the summit. Goran Persson, Swedish prime minister, said yesterday he was "not over-optimistic". Mr Blair knows, however, that he will be portrayed as the villain of the summit if he refuses to negotiate on Britain's €4.6bn (£3.2bn) rebate, first secured by Margaret Thatcher in 1984. He wants to reopen the 2002 Brussels deal at which EU leaders - including Mr Blair - agreed farm subsidies until 2013, as a precursor to allowing 10 new member states to join the club. The deal would set farm spending at about €300bn over the seven-year period; together with other rural subsidies that would amount to 43 per cent of the total proposed EU budget. Europe's foreign ministers meet tomorrow in Luxembourg for a "conclave" to try to narrow the differences over the seven-year budget, which is expected to be set at €800bn-€900bn. The Netherlands and Sweden are also digging in to cut their net contributions to the budget |
| Posted by:too true |
| #3 I think what Mr. Rasmussen wants to know is how Chirac intends to proceed with the ratification of the same constitution (no changes), in spite of the No vote. Forget about examining the premise! |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-06-12 14:36 |
| #2 I think what Mr. Rasmussen wants to know is how Chirac intends to proceed with the ratification, in spite of the No vote. Forget about examining the premise! What I don't get is that Chirac & Shroeder want the referendums to continue, knowing that the constitution will have to be "adjusted" for France to have another go at a referendum. So, what, different countries will vote for different constitutions? I guess then they'll propose a merger of all the constitutions to sort out this mess after everyone has voted. Only in Europe. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2005-06-12 14:33 |
| #1 Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark's prime minister, said the ratification could not continue until Mr Chirac and Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, explained how they intend to overcome their No votes. That says a lot about the mindsets of these bureacrats. The people have spoken, so the first order of business would be to examine the premise of the proposal. But that would be too logical. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-06-12 13:51 |