Chirac's Europe falls apart - in his own country

Calls being for Chirac to resign

From The Washington Post, headline is linked.

French Voters Reject First EU Constitution

By JOHN LEICESTER
The Associated Press
Sunday, May 29, 2005; 5:48 PM

PARIS -- French voters rejected the European Union's first constitution Sunday, a stinging repudiation of President Jacques Chirac's leadership and the ambitious, decades-long effort to further unite the continent.
Chirac, who urged voters to approve the charter, announced the result in a brief, televised address. He said the process of ratifying the treaty would continue in other EU countries.
"It is your sovereign decision, and I take note," Chirac said. "Make no mistake, France's decision inevitably creates a difficult context for the defense of our interests in Europe."
With 92 percent of votes counted, the treaty was rejected by 56.14 percent of voters, the Interior Ministry said. It was supported by 43.86 percent.
Treaty opponents chanting "We won!" gathered at Paris' Place de la Bastille, a symbol of rebellion where angry crowds in 1789 stormed the Bastille prison and sparked the French Revolution. Cars blared their horns and "no" campaigners thrust their arms into the air.
"This is a great victory," said Fabrice Savel, 38, from the working class suburb of Aubervilliers. He was distributing posters that read: "Non to a free-market Europe."
EU leaders in Brussels, Belgium, vowed to continue their effort to have the constitution approved.
All 25 EU members must ratify the text for it to take effect as planned by Nov. 1, 2006. Nine already have done so: Austria, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
The Dutch vote Wednesday, with polls showing opposition to the constitution there running at about 60 percent. On Friday, the constitution's main architect, former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, said countries that reject the treaty will be asked to vote again.
France's rejection could set the continent's plans back by years. The nation was a primary architect of European unity.
"There is no more constitution," leading opponent Philippe de Villiers said. "It is necessary to reconstruct Europe on other foundations that don't currently exist."
De Villiers called on Chirac to resign _ something the French leader had said he would not do _ and called for parliament to be dissolved.
"Tonight we face a major political crisis," he said.
Extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who campaigned vigorously for the constitution's defeat, also called for Chirac's resignation.
Chirac "wanted to gamble ... and he has lost," Le Pen said, alluding to Chirac's decision not to submit the charter to sure approval by parliament. The EU constitution can be adopted either by a referendum or a nation's legislature.

... more at linked article

Ah, shades of the Iraq war resolutions return and this time haunt Mr. Chirac. You all remember Jacques - he, one of the bribed, friend of Saddam, who was so instrumental in trying to 'delegitimize' the war against Iraq and the removal of Saddam from power. He who was there to be a thorn in the side of the U.S., who would not cooperate and help in the U.N. to get a final resolution passed that would have clearly given world approval and support to the war. He who also helped to keep NATO from assisting in Iraq to any real level. Yup, that guy.

Now his own people have turned on him and his glorious vision for a new and more powerful Europe that would be able to lead the world, rather than having to follow the U.S., or the U.K.

Too bad for Jacques. Nice to see though that the French citizenry actually do have a brain and are able to smell the stink that would be the E.U. as proposed by Chirac and his friends.

At least France voted 'non' before the Netherlands did. It would have been sad to see France head down the wrong path thanks to Chirac only to have the required mandate blown thanks to another nation -- another nation that was also smart enough to see E.U. is not necessarily what is the best for the nations of Europe.

That sound you hear is dancing in the streets of France and Holland....

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