ETERNAL VIGILANCE

French in disarray as they admit EU treaty vote is lost

Britain will ditch referendum if French vote 'Non'

By Charles Bremner in Paris
and Philip Webster, Political Editor
May 26,2005
TimesOnline

THE leader of France’s ruling party has privately admitted that Sunday’s referendum on the European constitution will result in a “no” vote, throwing Europe into turmoil.

“The thing is lost,” Nicolas Sarkozy told French ministers during an ill-tempered meeting. “It will be a little ‘no’ or a big ‘no’,” he was quoted as telling Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, whom he accused of leading a feeble campaign.

Although Europe would be thrown into disarray, the Government would be greatly relieved if M Sarkozy were right.

Ministers have privately told The Times that Britain is prepared to ditch its commitment to a referendum if France, or the Netherlands next Wednesday, vote against the constitution. They believe that if the French say “no”, President Chirac will have to declare the constitution dead or promise a renegotiation.

Because French voters consider that the treaty has already given too many concessions to Britain, ministers see no likelihood of the Government being able to put a renegotiated treaty to the country.

Tony Blair would instead have to use Britain’s imminent EU presidency to try to save those parts of the constitution that can be enforced without a treaty. That could mean that mechanical changes, such as ending the six-month rotating presidency of the EU, could go through.

The mood of pessimism that descended on the French Government after ten successive polls showing the “no” camp leading was echoed by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the former French President, who drafted the constitution. He blamed the failures of the “yes” campaign on the half-heartedness of France’s leaders.

“Our current leaders are of course believers in the idea of Europe but in their heart of hearts they are not men and women who are inspired by a European feeling,” he told a French newspaper.

President Chirac will go on television tonight to deliver a last-ditch appeal to his country to resist the temptation to vote “no” and trigger a crisis for the whole European Union.

But the President, who called the referendum in July last year but has done little campaigning, was reported to be pessimistic and telling visitors to the Elysée Palace that he expected a “no”.

M Sarkozy’s outburst came after M Raffarin, who is expected to lose his job in the event of a defeat, told ministers and the leadership of M Chirac’s UMP party that they should avoid defeatism but be prepared to limit the damage from the crisis from a “no”, party sources said.

After Philippe Douste-Blazy, the Health Minister, insisted that “we should trust the head of state”, M Sarkozy retorted: “Everything has to change — our way of doing politics . . . the labour law.” He said that the UMP would demand changes after the referendum and that “the Government had better follow the party”, the sources said.

M Sarkozy wants to be President and is locked in a bitter rivalry with M Chirac. The leaking of the row by M Sarkozy’s camp was a sign of the rising bad blood between the party leader and M Chirac’s team.

Mr Blair, pressed in the Commons to make plain that Britain would not go ahead if there were a rejection of the treaty in France’s vote on Sunday or the Dutch poll next Wednesday, effectively did so.

He said yesterday only that there would be a referendum before any constitutional treaty was ratified in Britain. He carefully avoided saying that there would be a referendum come what may.

He said: “If any country did vote ‘no’ there would have to be a discussion at the European Council on it to see the way forward and there is really nothing else to say at this point.”

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Editor's comment: The squeeze is on the French politicians as the French voters and economy feel the pinch of "outsourcing" of jobs to Ukraine and other former Eastern Bloc countries. This, along with cheap imports from China and other low wage countries has wrecked the French economy much as NAFTA and other free trade deals have wrecked the economy here in the U.S.

Polls show that there is still a large number of undecided voters with the 'No' vote gaining ground

The people need jobs and the only way to keep them is to remove the free trade deals and force the corporations to keep their manufacturing facilities in place.

Another factor is the uncontrolled immigration that steals jobs from those native born people for the benefit of providing cheap imported labor for the large corporate operations who still have domestic production facilities.

Dutch 'No' Vote Looming Large

In other EU constitution developments in the Netherlands, Henk Ruyssenaars reports that the corrupt Dutch judiciary has blocked a complaint by the No Constitution Committee of the Netherlands which challenged the Dutch government's "allocation of €3.5 million to the 'yes' campaign for the 1 June referendum" as unlawful.

Also, a poll conducted by the Dutch NSS-Interview Institute on Friday, May 20th showed a resounding defeat looming for the EU constitution referendum with 63 per cent of respondents opposed to the treaty, and 37 per cent in favor.

Another poll conducted the next day by the Maurice de Hond Institute showed 60% opposed and 40% in favor.

In a London Telegraph story, we find this interesting bit of information.

Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, appealed to French and Dutch voters yesterday to shun the appeals from the increasingly confident No campaigners.

"Of course it [the constitution] is not perfect," he wrote in the French newspaper Le Figaro. "But it is an undeniable step towards the European ideal. A step forward, towards the Europe we want, the citizens' Europe."

Speaking to reporters in The Hague, he refused to speculate about the chance of a No vote.

"I have experienced so often as prime minister that polls are different than the final outcome. Next week is the real moment," he said. "Everybody's vote counts. The question is whether we go ahead with Europe or stand still."

Ruyssenaars further reports that in Britain, "There is a now fast growing public skepticism about some important parts of the new European constitution. ...where the 'pro Bush' Blair government plays the role of '5th colone' - the 'worst traitor' in the EU, Bush's warmongering poodle Blair, speaks with a misleading loud voice about democracy, etc."

All in all, this report is good news for European Nationalists and a bitter pill to swallow for the European globalist cabal.

As Alex Jones says, "We are on the march, the Empire is on the run."