Ali
04-15-2005, 08:04 AM
They say it to Brussels, too. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4395025.stm)The French government is stepping up its campaign in support of the proposed EU constitution after five consecutive opinion polls suggested voters might reject it in a referendum in May.
...53% of French Socialists plan to vote No.
Confrontation
Their reasoning is that the constitution as it stands is too liberal, too "Anglo-Saxon" and would not protect the French social model.
Socialist critics, and many on the right as well, fear the French work force would suffer from outside competition, not least from cheaper Polish plumbers or Lithuanian lumberjacks if services are liberalised.
And the debate is getting increasingly personal. One French Socialist MP is threatening legal action against the British Minister for Europe, Denis MacShane, for calling French opponents of the EU constitution "neo-cretins". That is SO rich! The British Minister for Europe calling French Eurosceptics cretins!!!A French Non would create shock waves in Brussels, as a rejection by one of the key founding EU members would send the constitutional treaty straight back to the drawing board.
No bad thing, say its critics here.
...53% of French Socialists plan to vote No.
Confrontation
Their reasoning is that the constitution as it stands is too liberal, too "Anglo-Saxon" and would not protect the French social model.
Socialist critics, and many on the right as well, fear the French work force would suffer from outside competition, not least from cheaper Polish plumbers or Lithuanian lumberjacks if services are liberalised.
And the debate is getting increasingly personal. One French Socialist MP is threatening legal action against the British Minister for Europe, Denis MacShane, for calling French opponents of the EU constitution "neo-cretins". That is SO rich! The British Minister for Europe calling French Eurosceptics cretins!!!A French Non would create shock waves in Brussels, as a rejection by one of the key founding EU members would send the constitutional treaty straight back to the drawing board.
No bad thing, say its critics here.