Chirac tries shaming and scaring France into a ‘yes’ vote
Last night Jacques Chirac hosted a Q&A with several dozen young people on the May 29 referendum on the European Constitutiuon, which he described as a “daughter of French thinking.” The polls consistently show the French to be against approval. Here’s some reporting from Le Figaro on the meeting:
Chirac défend une Europe «non libérale»
Jacques Chirac est entré hier soir en campagne pour le oui au référendum du 29 mai, en plaidant pour une Europe «forte et organisée», face à «l’ultralibéralisme» à l’anglo-saxonne. Au cours d’un débat avec des jeunes à l’Elysée, retransmis par TF1, il a mis en garde contre les dangers d’un non français, estimant qu’il aurait «un effet boomerang». Selon lui, si la France rejetait la Constitution, elle «cesserait d’exister politiquement» en Europe….
Disant refuser toute «dramatisation» en cas de victoire du non, Chirac a toutefois mis en garde contre l’effet «boomerang». Il a prévenu que dans une telle hypothèse, la France serait considérée comme «le mouton noir» en Europe, qu’elle serait «considérablement affaiblie» et «cesserait d’exister politiquement» au sein de l’Europe, «au moins pendant un certain temps».
One of the main reasons the referendum is in trouble is that the French economy is performing badly, and the continued liberalization and harmonization of labor policies withing the EU is seen as a threat to the French way of life. (Another is the issue of Turkey’s joining the EU over the next decade.) Hence, Chirac has tried in part to recast the debate in terms of France’s status in Europe, and in terms of the need for a united front against those nasty anglo-saxons. Since no fewer than fifteen recent polls all point to a ‘no’ vote, Chirac himself may turn out to be the “black sheep” after the vote.
UPDATE
Chirac has not done his cause any favors, via FT:
[A] series of opinion polls has put the No vote ahead and President Jacques Chirac is widely deemed to have put in a disappointing performance in a televised debate last week. Support for a No vote has risen in subsequent polls, now standing at 56 per cent.
And this:
Mr Chirac’s performance won mixed reviews. Laurent Fabius, the former prime minister and leading critic of the treaty, said: “I found Mr Chirac, like the constitution, long and not very convincing.”