Les Jones: New Poll Finds French Turning Against EU Constitution

April 12, 2005

European Union > New Poll Finds French Turning Against EU Constitution

A new survey finds a majority of French will vote no in a referendum to adopt the EU constitution.

Successive opinion polls have bolstered the 'no' campaign - the latest, released last week, showed 55 per cent of the French public were opposed to the constitution, against 40 per cent a month ago - and the government and mainstream Socialists have redoubled their efforts to win over the electorate. They have resorted to gimmicks such as a tour of Casino supermarkets by astronaut-turned-minister Claudie Haigner�, visits by foreign politicians and explanatory meetings for homeless people.

The French popular vote on the EU constitution is May 29. The Netherlands will have their referendum three days later. A March survey found Dutch opinion going against the EU constitution. That survey found a majority of the French still in favor of the EU constitution.

Posted by lesjones

Comments

One can but hope. The EU Constitution looks more like a set of Encyclopedia Britannica than the instruction manual for a government.

Anything that complicated and involved cannot be good.

Posted by: Kevin Baker at April 11, 2005

I'm really looking forward to seeing the results. In many ways Europe isn't nearly as democratic as the U.S., and the people there get a lot of bad policy shoved down their throats by their leaders. There's a chance they'll use the referendum to send a message about the EU.

Posted by: Les Jones at April 11, 2005

The best thing in the world for the USA would be the formation of a supranational, bloated bureaucratic clusterfuck in the form of a "European Union." Such an organization would march the continent straight down the path to the hell of statism. If you think European economies are stagnant now, if the EU constituion is ratified, we will be able to smell the stench all the way across the Atlantic. I hope the damn thing passes.

Posted by: Tim Edwards at May 04, 2005