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| Europe | |
| EU foreign ministers rally to save French referendum | |
| 2005-04-17 | |
| Europe's foreign ministers have rallied round the embattled French campaign for the European constitution, arguing that a No vote on the May 29 referendum would set back the European Union's drive to play a bigger part on the world stage. Many officials fear that a French rejection, which could prove terminal for the constitutional treaty, would also halt the EU's enlargement drive - sometimes dubbed "the most successful foreign policy in the world" by whom? .
those sound like real clout enhancers to me. Let's see if the Pentagon asks for some in the next budget.. "If we want Europe to play a role in the world it is necessary to be in favour of the constitution," said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU external relations commissioner, at a weekend meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg. But a series of opinion polls has put the No vote ahead and President Jacques Chirac is widely deemed to have put in a disappointing performance in a televised debate last week. Support for a No vote has risen in subsequent polls, now standing at 56 per cent. That number keeps creeping up. It may get so high that Jacques will have a hard time explaining approval with a 110% voter turnout. The EU's enlargement drive could be particularly stricken because the debate in France has focused on fears about the possible effects of the EU's expansion last year to 25 member states and on the prospect of Turkish membership in about a decade's time. Some EU officials fear that if France rejects the constitution it may not be possible to begin the entry negotiations with Turkey in October this year, as scheduled. others think it's a feature. A longer term promise to allow the whole of the Balkans to enter the EU is at the heart of international efforts to stabilise the former Yugoslavia, the site of four wars in the 1990s. Four wars, eh? That should work well with the French and Germans. They only had two in the last 100 years. At the foreign ministers' meeting, Dimitrij Rupel, chairman of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said he was "very worried" about the effect on enlargement of a French No vote. On Monday, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy representative, will join the fray with a Paris speech which makes a plea for a Yes vote to safeguard Europe's role in the world. Yup, that'll change Jean-Pierre's vote, for sure. | |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #3 What does a EU commissioner do if there is no EU? How about the French Socialist party? |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-04-17 9:04:30 PM |
| #2 Call it a job security effort by panicking bureaucrats. Riddle me this: What does a EU commissioner do if there is no EU? |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-04-17 8:43:32 PM |
| #1 I'm waiting for the Guardian letter-writing campaign to explain to the Frenchies that a 'no' vote is unacceptable. |
| Posted by: Jake-the-Peg 2005-04-17 4:16:44 PM |