French Left ‘holds key’ to EU constitution

Date: 25/11/04

By Martin Banks

A VOTE next week by members of the French Socialist Party, which could decide the fate of the proposed EU constitution, is “too close to call”.

The constitution has split both the left- and right-wing in France and left the majority of voters uncertain as to which way they will vote when the issue is put to a referendum.

But it is the Parti Socialiste, the country's main opposition party, which is split down the middle on the treaty, where divisions are most acute.

On Wednesday (1 December), around 120,000 card-carrying party members will get a chance to say 'yes' or 'no' to the constitution.

The outcome is expected to be a close-run thing but, if members vote to commit the Socialist party to campaign for a 'non', it will be difficult for President Jacques Chirac to win the referendum, to be held in the second half of next year.

A French rejection would stop the constitution in its tracks, triggering a crisis in the EU.

Chirac, in a recent meeting in London with UK premier Tony Blair, warned that there is now a strong possibility that France will reject the treaty. He told journalists: “If the vote was held today, we would lose it.”

A French Socialist party insider said: “It is not an exaggeration to say that next week's vote could decide the fate of the constitution.”

The 'yes' and 'no' campaigners will spend the final days before the key vote travelling around the country drumming up support.

The 'yes' camp is led by Socialist party leader François Hollande, who has warned that rejection of the treaty would weaken the “European dream”.

In a recent interview with Le Monde, he was non-committal on what might happen if there was a 'no' vote next week. “We will be entering the unknown,” he said. But Hollande remains optimistic of steering voters towards a 'yes'.

The deputy party leader, Laurent Fabius - a former French prime minister and finance minister - is the head of the 'no' campaign.

Fabius rejects the constitution on the grounds that it fails to promote the “social model” that the Socialists would like for Europe.

The 31-strong delegation of French Socialist MEPs is also split.

Newly elected deputy, Benoît Hamon, who opposes the constitution, says that the party will be in “splendid isolation” with its electorate if its members vote 'yes'.

He said: “How much longer will European Socialists talk of a Europe they want but one which is so remote from the Europe they are building?

“The constitution is a symbol of this contradiction. It is an unbalanced text and will never be the tool that Europe needs to be more democratic and social.”

But Harlem Désir, deputy chairman of the Socialist group in Parliament, disagrees: “The constitution does not achieve all the goals we want but does create the framework for a more social Europe,” he says.

Désir accepts that a 'no' vote next Wednesday would make it “very difficult” to win the referendum on the constitution but says that he and others will be campaigning “up to the last minute”.

The constitution must be ratified by parliamentary vote or referendum in all member states in order to enter into force.

Nine countries have so far announced that they will hold referenda (the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the UK).

The first public vote will take place in Spain in February.

Earlier this month, Lithuania became the first state to approve the constitution.

Preview of a vote by members of the French Socialist Party on 1 December 2004 on their stance towards the proposed EU constitution.

Parti Socialiste: Homepage http://www.parti-socialiste.fr/

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