The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Saying no to a European constitution

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Monday, May 23, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Saying no to a European constitution

Vaiju Naravane

As the last week of campaigning got under way for the referendum in France on the European constitution, there was palpable nervousness in the "Yes" camp.

PETITE AND brunette, Maria Gloria Barroso works as a lawyer's clerk in Paris. We meet at the Place de la Republique where the French Left is holding an all-day political cook out, a mix of sausages and speeches to campaign for the "No" vote in the May 29 referendum on the European Constitution.

Politically "neutral" Ms. Barroso is no relation and no admirer of the EU Commission's ultra-liberal President Jose Manuel Barroso.

"I only share the same surname otherwise the difference between him and me is that of night and day. I certainly do not share his pro-business views but nor I am a Leftist voter. I am here today because what the Left says about the Constitution makes sense. We have a lot more social protection in France today than when my father first arrived from Portugal as an immigrant worker. Today he is dying because he inhaled large quantities of asbestos two decades ago. I would not like our hard-won rights to be thrown away because a lot of rich people wish to make money," she says.

It is a bright sunny day in Paris and the area around the Place de la Republique is gay with music, banners and laughing crowds that include three generations. The smell of French fries, barbecued steak and sausages fills the air and the atmosphere is more that of a fun fair than a political meeting. People wear lapel badges: "On 29 May, a No with all our strength," says the badge for Leftist Unity issued by all the left wing parties together. Otherwise the Communists, Socialists and Ultra leftists and the Greens have their own slogans.

The star attraction of the meeting is Jose Bove, the moustachioed hero of the anti-globalisation movement. "To vote for this constitution is to put a gun to your head. This document will shut Europe into a capitalist economic model for at least 50 years," he said. To great cheering and applause he calls on the people to return their copy of the Constitution to President Jacques Chirac. "He can keep it. He'll know what to do with it," he says.

The Communist Party MP Patrick Braouezec is convinced the "No" vote will carry the day. "This no is going to send a strong message to the community of nations within Europe. It comes from the heart, it is clearly the people talking. How can it be ignored?"

As the last week of campaigning got under way, there was palpable nervousness in the "Yes" camp. Last week President Chirac invited support from outside in the form of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski, a move resented by most French who view this as an internal electoral campaign.

With the five latest opinion polls all giving a small but unmistakable lead to opponents of the constitutional treaty, the odds were shortening for an electoral upheaval on May 29 that would have huge repercussions both nationally and inside the European Union.

Both sides are now preparing for seven frenetic days of rallies and media appearances in order to win over wavering voters — put by pollsters at between a fifth and a third of the public — and ensure a high turn-out by the faithful.

The "no" vote in France brings together the country's political extremes, from the far-right National Front of Jean-Marie Le Pen to the Trotskyist far-left. There are also nationalist Eurosceptics led by the European deputy Philippe de Villiers and Gaullist dissidents inside Chirac's ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

But the core of the opposition comes from a leftist alliance, including rebel MPs from the Socialist camp. A leadership in favour of the constitution is defied by former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius who has at least half of party supporters behind him. In an interview with Le Monde newspaper on Sunday, Mr. Fabius said that without a rewriting of the constitution the expansion of the EU can only lead to the "delocalisation" of more jobs and businesses from high-regulation countries like France to low-cost economies like Poland and Hungary.

"True internationalism does not mean putting a French, a Romanian and a Chinese worker in competition and saying `Let the cheapest man win'. There have to be rules," he said.

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