World News 02-06-2005 Dutch Say Nee To Constitution who: EU President José Manuel Durão Barroso what: Urges EU countries not to make any rash decisions as France and Holland scupper plans for constitution when: Wednesday snippet: On Wednesday, 62% of voters in the Netherlands voted against the European Union constitution in a referendum which, added to the resounding "no" from France at the weekend, makes the treaty effectively impossible to salvage. However, the EU commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, "implored the 13 EU countries which have not yet ratified the process to `avoid any unilateral initiatives` by declaring it dead before they meet in a fortnight`s time," says The Scotsman, referring to the European Council summit in Brussels on June 16th and 17th. "Dutch voters feared the treaty meant surrendering power to France and Germany," says The Sun. "They are also livid the euro was foisted on them, sending prices rocketing." While the Dutch "nee" campaign was more successful than expected, the French "non" was entirely predictable, says the BBC`s world affairs editor, John Simpson. "The entire project, noble though it was, was much too `de haut en bas`, as the French say - handed down to the hoi polloi by idealists who knew the direction Europe should take, and weren`t prepared to take no for an answer." The French government must now try to rebuild its credibility with a new prime minister, former interior minister Dominique de Villepin, replacing Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who tendered his resignation following Sunday`s vote. "It may take months, even years, for Europe to work out what this double No from Holland and France means for the European Union," writes The Telegraph`s David Rennie from The Hague. "But one message has already been made clear to all those countries hoping to join: Old Europe is turning in on itself." "Opposition to the constitution reflects, among many other things, hostility to enlargement," agrees Bronwen Maddox in The Times. "That project may now have to slow down, even stop." But the EU itself is not in jeopardy, she says. The single market has "reduced prices and boosted growth", restraints have prevented governments from giving anti-competitive aid to their "national champions", relaxation of the EU`s internal borders has resulted in an "imaginative change" and formerly Soviet communist nations have been won over by "rival ideology and economic principles" as a result of European unification. "Even if public fears and a sense of too much, too fast now puts a brake on the EU`s ambitions, that does not undermine the achievements so far." [... more]

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