'No' vote supporters celebrate after France voted against the ratification of the European constitution Paris yesterday. France overwhelmingly rejected the European Union's constitution in a referendum yesterday, plunging the EU into crisis and dealing a potentially fatal blow to a charter designed to make the enlarged bloc run smoothly. - REUTERS
PARIS (AP):
FRENCH VOTERS rejected the European Union's proposed constitution yesterday, dealing a staggering blow to efforts to further unify the 25-nation bloc by giving it a common charter and more power on the global stage.
With nearly 96 per cent of votes counted, the 'no' camp had 55.5 per cent, with only 44.5 per cent voting "yes," the Interior Ministry said.
"It is your sovereign decision, and I take note," President Jacques Chirac said in a brief televised address, adding: "Make no mistake, France's decision inevitably creates a difficult context for the defence of our interests in Europe."
The treaty's rejection in a bitterly contested referendum in France _ the cradle of continental unity and an architect of the European project _ could set the continent's plans back by years and amounts to a personal humiliation for the veteran French leader.
Chirac said the process of ratifying the treaty would nevertheless continue in other EU countries. EU leaders also vowed to continue their efforts to have the landmark charter approved in other member nations.
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 thrust their arms into the air.
"This is a great victory," said Fabrice Savel, 38, from the working-class suburb of Aubervilliers. He was distributing posters that read: "Non to a free-market Europe."
To go into effect as planned by Nov. 1, 2006, the charter needs ratification in all 25 member nations, either by referendum or parliamentary vote. Nine countries had previously voted in favour of the charter. France was the first "no" _ even though it was a founder member of what over 50 years has grown into the EU.
Leading "no" campaigner Philippe de Villiers pronounced the treaty dead last 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.
Chirac "wanted to gamble ... and he has lost," Le Pen said. "We are living an historic moment."
The French vote came three days before the charter faces another hostile reception in the Netherlands.
Chirac and European leaders have said there was no fallback plan in the event of a French rejection. But many French voters did not believe that. Many, especially on the left, hoped their "no" vote would force the EU back to the drawing board and improve the 448-clause document. In the meantime, "no" voters expected the EU to continue functioning under existing treaties.
"I voted 'no' because the text is very difficult to understand. Also, I'm afraid for democracy. The way the EU functions is very opaque. Many people there are not directly elected," said Emmanuel Zelez, 32, a film editor. "I'm not afraid of the implications of the 'no' vote winning."
The outcome caused immediate disarray, with political leaders outside France divided on the significance of the French vote.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said "the result raises profound questions for all of us about the future direction of Europe."
But the European Union's industry commissioner, Guenther Verheugen, said the vote was not a catastrophe and that the situation should not be over dramatised.
"Integration will continue," Verheugen said.
Chirac had waged an all-out campaign to persuade nearly 42 million sharply divided voters to approve the charter. But the electorate was in rebellious mood, with unemployment running at 10 percent and wide unease about the direction Europe is taking.
Interior Minister Dominique De Villepin said only 18 of France's regions and territories voted for the constitution. But a "no" vote of 60 per cent or higher was recorded in 25 regions, he said, "particularly in the north and the south of France."
Turnout was close to 70 per cent _ testifying to the passions that the treaty and the debate surrounding it aroused.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the head of Chirac's ruling Union for a Popular Movement and a leading campaigner for the "yes" camp, called yesterday's defeat "a major political event."
Looking ahead to France's next general elections in 2007, Sarkozy said: "We must decide on an innovative, courageous and ambitious plan of action."
Chirac's popularity ratings have plummeted in recent weeks, and there was widespread speculation that he would fire unpopular Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. In his television address, Chirac said he would announce "my decisions concerning the government and its priorities" in 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 labour. On the left, opponents feared that the treaty would open the EU to unfettered free-market capitalism, trampling on workers rights.
Nine nations _ Austria, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain _ already have ratified it.
A "yes," coupled with another by the Dutch, could have given the constitution potentially unstoppable momentum.
In the end, though, the French _ torn between wanting to remain one of the engines of an increasingly competitive Europe yet fiercely protective of the generous social welfare benefits they enjoy _ stuck with their perceptions that the charter posed another threat to their cherished way of life.
"If you look at every sentence, every turn of phrase, practically every article has a mention of (financial) markets," Anne-Marie Latremoliere, a 57-year-old graphic designer, said after casting a "no" ballot at a polling station near the Bastille.
"We want Europe to be a beautiful place, and this is certainly not it," she said.
