EUROPEAN UNION Leaders wait for results from Dutch

With France voting no to the constitution, the Dutch aren't likely to either.
WASHINGTON POST
PARIS -- European leaders held out hope Monday that they could move forward with their decades-long drive to unify the continent under a single economic and political banner, but braced for a potentially fatal setback as Dutch voters threatened to join France in rejecting a proposed constitution.
After vowing initially to press ahead despite the French defeat, leaders at the European Union said they would wait for the results of a popular referendum Wednesday in the Netherlands, where opinion polls show the constitution is in trouble. Officials said they would decide what to do next during a previously scheduled summit in Brussels on June 16-17.
The French vote shook the government in Paris, where President Jacques Chirac was closeted in Elysee Palace to consult with advisers on a planned cabinet shake-up. His staff issued a statement announcing he would address the nation on television tonight to reveal "decisions regarding the government."
In the aftermath of the 55 percent vote against the constitution, the palace declined to respond to French media reports that Chirac had decided to sack Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, whose aides cleared out their offices Monday in anticipation of such a move.
Central government
Negotiators settled last year on the language of the constitution, which is intended to create a uniform legal framework that would give broad power to the European central government on issues of foreign and domestic concern. Since then, countries have been deciding one by one whether to ratify the document.
As opinion polls indicted rejection of the referendum in France in the days leading up to the vote, some European leaders held out hope the French could be pressured into trying again if they ended up as the lone holdouts. But with surveys showing the Netherlands was also poised to vote no Wednesday, politicians supporting the constitution changed their tone and began talking about the necessity of respecting the wishes of the people.
In Brussels, the headquarters of the EU, leaders tried to soldier on but had trouble mustering much enthusiasm. "We cannot say the treaty is dead," said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, even as he acknowledged the defeat in France was a "serious problem" and offered no prescription for fixing it. Leaders said they had no alternative strategy drawn up if the constitution was not enacted. Each of the EU's 25 member nations must approve the constitution before it can take effect.
Opponents of the constitution said drafters need to rewrite it to win French support. "I'm European, but I want a strong, unified Europe," Laurent Fabius, a Socialist leader who broke from his party to fight the document, said on French television. "The constitution didn't do that."
Debate continues
British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for "a period of reflection" after the French rejection. He said the debate had failed to take into account people's anxieties over how an expanded and more powerful European central government would affect job security, immigration and questions of national identity. He said the constitution was a "perfectly sensible set of rules to govern Europe," but added there was "a bigger debate now in Europe."
Even countries that have already ratified the measure -- nine, so far -- harbored doubts that the French rejection could be overcome. "This is regrettable and will cause great challenges for Europe," said Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer of Germany, which adopted the constitution in a parliamentary vote last week.
Chirac, meanwhile, ignored calls from the opposition to quit, but political analysts said his popularity was so low it was unlikely he would revive a push to pass the constitution before his term ends in 2007.
Many French voters said they were all too eager to snub members of the country's political, business and media elite, which were largely in favor of the measure.
"They made Europe happen too fast," said Sebastien Dreuillet, a 22-year-old college student in Paris who said he voted no. "I found the constitution unreadable. The test was too long. Most of the elites didn't read it and just followed along."
Even supporters of the constitution blamed Chirac for not doing a better job of articulating how France would stand to benefit from a stronger EU. In particular, they grimaced at the memory of Chirac's appearance on television with a group of young voters during the campaign, when he admitted he didn't understand their anxieties about how France would fare economically and politically under a stronger European confederation.
Some voters accused EU leaders of crafting the constitutional process to make it appear democratic when, of the nine nations that have already ratified the constitution, only Spain held a constitutional referendum on the question.