France should give the European Union constitutional treaty a "second chance" after its voters rejected it last year, former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing said in an interview published Tuesday. Giscard told the Financial Times that the treaty, whose drafting he oversaw as president of the European Convention, should be reconsidered after next year's presidential elections in France."I wish that we will have a new chance, a second chance, for the constitutional project," following its rejection in a referendum in May last year, said Giscard, 80. "There are 16 out of 25 countries that have ratified the European constitution. That's to say there's a qualified majority. There is an agreed text," he told the British daily. "The concern now is the modalities of adopting it," said Giscard, leaving open the possibility of another referendum or a vote in parliament.
Giscard said voters rejected the constitution — which Brussels argues is needed to prevent decision-making gridlock in the expanding bloc — because of the French government's unpopularity and a poor campaign to sell it to voters. "If we had chosen to have a parliamentary vote last year the constitution would have been easily adopted. It is the method that has provoked the rejection," he said. "Legally, we could vote again," he said. Nor would it be "anti-democratic" to hold another referendum, he added. "People have the right to change their opinion. The people might consider they made a mistake."
| "The voting will continue 'til my morale improves!" |
| "We can create a special classification for the Limeys. Separate but equal. And of course a small assessment for, um...services rendered." |