WILLIAM J. KOLE Associated Press writer | Posted: Monday, May 30, 2005 12:00 am
PARIS - In 1789, an angry mob that saw the Bastille prison as a symbol of oppression stormed it to start a revolution. On Sunday, French voters fearful of being swallowed up in an ever-enlarging Europe unleashed another revolt.
Turning out in huge numbers for a referendum that polarized the nation, indignant voters delivered a humiliating "non!" to the European Union's first constitution. France's rejection dealt a stunning setback to the bloc's latest ambitious effort to unite its 25 member states under a single blueprint for their future.
The rejection in a bitterly contested referendum in France - the cradle of continental unity and an architect of the European project - could set the EU's plans back by years, if not kill the constitution entirely.
Sunday's defeat in France, where the European Coal and Steel Community was launched in 1951 as the precursor to the modern EU, shifted the focus and suspense on the Netherlands, which holds a referendum on the charter on Wednesday.
Polls show the Dutch are even more hostile to the treaty, with opposition running at about 60 percent. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende urged his countrymen not to follow France's lead, insisting the constitution "will bring more democracy" to Europe.
Despite France's rejection, with about 55.5 percent voting "no" and 44.5 percent "yes," EU leaders vowed to continue their efforts to have the landmark charter approved in the other member nations.
"Of course, it is a serious problem," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, but added: "We cannot say that the treaty is dead."
To go into effect as planned by Nov. 1, 2006, the charter needs ratification in all member nations, either by referendum or parliamentary vote. Nine other countries had previously voted in favor of the charter.
The "no" was a humiliation to French President Jacques Chirac, who had staked his government's credibility to the charter's passage and had campaigned all-out for a "yes." It was widely seen as a rebuke by disgruntled voters who accused the government of selling out French interests to EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
"France has expressed itself democratically," Chirac said in a brief televised address to the nation. "It is your sovereign decision, and I take note."
But he added: "Make no mistake, France's decision inevitably creates a difficult context for the defense of our interests in Europe."
Treaty opponents chanting "WE WON!" gathered at Paris' Place de la Bastille, a symbol of rebellion where angry crowds in 1789 stormed the prison and sparked the French Revolution. Cars blared their horns and "no" campaigners jubilantly thrust their arms into the air.
"This is a great victory," said Fabrice Savel, 38, from the working-class suburb of Aubervilliers, distributing posters that read: "No to a free-market Europe."
Leading "no" campaigner Philippe de Villiers pronounced the treaty dead Sunday night, declaring: "There is no more constitution."
"The people have massively said 'no," he said. "It is necessary to reconstruct Europe on other foundations that don't currently exist."
De Villiers called on Chirac to resign - something the French leader had said he would not do - and called for parliament to be dissolved. "Tonight we face a major political crisis," he said.
Extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who campaigned vigorously for the constitution's defeat, also called for Chirac's resignation. The French leader "wanted to gamble … and he has lost," Le Pen said.
EU officials had said that even if France rejected the treaty, efforts to ratify it in other countries would move ahead. Although Chirac and other top European leaders have said the treaty cannot be renegotiated, many French voters insisted it could.
The treaty itself says EU leaders will discuss what to do if, by October 2006, four-fifths of member states have ratified it but even one nation has "encountered difficulties" getting it accepted.
"Today the French have made their voices heard and they have said 'no,"' said Nicolas Sarkozy, the head of Chirac's ruling Union for a Popular Movement. "We must listen to what the French have expressed."
Although Chirac campaigned tirelessly to persuade nearly 42 million sharply divided voters to approve the charter, the electorate was in a rebellious mood, with unemployment running at 10 percent and wide unease about the direction Europe is taking.
Chirac's popularity ratings have plummeted in recent weeks. The president said Sunday night he would announce "my decisions concerning the government and its priorities" in the coming days.
France's rejection of the treaty made the conservative president only the second leader, after Gen. Charles de Gaulle, to lose a referendum since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958.
Although Chirac argued that the constitution would streamline EU decision-making and make the bloc more accessible to its 450 million citizens, opponents feared it would strip France of its sovereignty and generous social system and trigger an influx of cheap labor.
"I think that the constitution will destroy our political structure. It's just about economic interests," said Anne Le Moel, a "no" voter and 42-year-old professor of philosophy, repeating what had become a battle cry among the charter's opponents.
The nine nations that have ratified the treaty are Austria, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
Emmanuel Zelez, a 32-year-old film editor, offered no apology for France's refusal to follow their lead.
"I'm afraid for democracy," he said. "The way the EU functions is very opaque."