EU presidency: French ‘non’ may not mean no

The European constitution will not be renegotiated and is not dead after a French ‘non’, the EU presidency insisted on Sunday night.

In the aftermath of the May 29 French referendum constitution defeat the EU presidency, European Commission and Parliament have united to demand the show go on.

Luxembourg Prime Minister and current holder of the EU presidency Jean-Claude Juncker demanded that constitutional ratifications continue – ahead of an expected Dutch ‘nee’ on June 1.

Juncker argues that “contradictions” between pro-Europeans and eurosceptics within the ‘non’ campaign means the message from France is not clear.

“It may be in France that the no camp has won but if they were to be asked to produce a new text they would be incapable of doing that,” he said on Sunday night.

“I am still very much in doubt when I look at this very mixed response in France. If we were to add up all the votes of those who wanted ‘more Europe’ as a yes then I think that we would have had a yes vote.”

"It is therefore impossible to renegotiate Europe under those conditions."

Senior EU figures are concerned that the French vote does not kill the EU constitution and ratification in 15 other European countries.

“The constitutional debate has taken place in France but it is a European debate and I therefore believe the ratification procedure must go on in the other member states,” said Juncker.

“The European process does not come to a halt today.”

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso also played down the strength of the French rejection.

“The messages are contradictory, some are saying they vote because they want more Europe, some are saying because they want less Europe. So it is very difficult to draw a conclusion,” he said.

“The no camp has several contradictory messages. There was no one clear voice coming from the no camp, no one simple message.”

Barroso points to a successful Spanish referendum as an indicator the French setback may be more to do with domestic discontent with the government that the EU.

“I think it was more to do with internal matters than to an overall situation, the problems we have in this country."

"But there are 25 ratification procedures… and that is why it is very difficult to draw a conclusion based on one,” he said.

“One thing is sure. We should try to put Europe back on track again.”

Leader of the European Parliament’s largest centre-right political bloc, Hans-Gert Poettering urged EU leaders to keep the constitution on track at a June 16 Brussels summit.

“In the end European heads of state and government will have to evaluate the overall result of the ratification process and will have to examine all possibilities on whether and in which way the constitution, or at least important parts of it, can still become legal reality,” he said.
 
Leader of the parliament’s Socialists Martin Schulz insisted that “the battle goes on”. 

“The French 'no' is of course a blow to European integration and the strengthening of the EU.  The outcome in France is a setback,” he said.

“We respect the outcome of this democratic vote – a vote that can be interpreted as a vote against what Europe is like at the moment or against Jacques Chirac on domestic grounds.” 

Former Danish PM and European Socialist leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen highlighted the domestic factor.

"We must not read the ‘non’ in France as a ‘non’ to Europe. This is not the last word on the European constitution.”

“The French people wished to reject a tired and unpopular government that has failed to represent the concerns of ordinary people in France,” he said.

“The French government did not succeed in creating a real debate on what the new treaty is really about.”

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