 French President Jacques Chirac was to make a flying visit to the German capital on Saturday to meet Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and puzzle out how to save the EU constitution.
| "Wot are we going to do now, Gerhard?" |
Just weeks ago the two men presided over the engine room of the European Union, the Franco-German axis. Now Chirac leads a nation which last weekend turned its back on decades of staunch pro-Europeanism by delivering a resounding "no" to the treaty which is designed to provide a framework for an expanded European Union. Schroeder meanwhile is emerging, by default, as the potential saviour of the European project, shuttling across the continent for talks in a bid to rescue the constitution from the scrapheap. The rejections from voters in France and the Netherlands have left the EU reeling. Leaders said before the two referendums that there was no plan "B' and it appears they were not bluffing.
| I think I just heard Richelieu and Bismark laughing hysterically... |
 Germany has ratified the constitution, although no referendum was used, and so have nine others of the 25 member states, but the damage caused by the "no" votes in France and the Netherlands is severe.
| The Big Mo turned into the Big No... |
It emerged on Friday that Schroeder intends to call for a "pause for reflection" when EU leaders gather at a summit in Brussels on June 16-17 to plot the way forward. German press reports said the government feared Britain will next week shelve plans for its referendum, and it is determined that the more liberal Europe promoted by Prime Minister Tony Blair does not gain the upper hand.
"Non, non! Can't have any of that!"
"Nein, nein! DÀt wöÃŒld never dö!" |
Britain takes over the rotating EU presidency in July.
| "Ummm... Jacques? Is Plan B done yet?" |
As Chirac and Schroeder form a common, pro-constitution front when they sit down to their working dinner in Berlin, they might also reflect that they share something else—plummeting popularity ratings at home. Schroeder's Social Democrats suffered a devastating defeat in a state election last month, prompting him to call for a general election this September 12 months ahead of schedule. Opinion polls show he will lose to the conservative opposition Christian Democrats of Angela Merkel. Chirac meanwhile suffered the humiliation of seeing his people ignore his appeals for them to ratify the constitution and spent the week looking, to many analysts, like a lame duck president. The "no" vote forced him into a governent reshuffle, promoting former health minister Philippe Douste-Blazy to foreign minister. |