'No' to constitution likely
A poll has found for the first time that a majority of the French are likely to vote against the European constitution in the referendum in May.
According to the poll, conducted this week by the CSA Institute and published today in Le Parisien, the daily newspaper, 51 per cent intend to vote “no” and 49 per cent “yes”. It also found that 53 per cent of voters are likely to abstain on May 29.
France’s main parties, including President Chirac’s Union for a Popular Movement and the opposition socialists, have advocated a “yes” vote, although both have dissidents who are threatening to join the Communists and the far Right in voting against.
“If the ‘no’ prevails, France will be in for a political cataclysm,” Jacques Delors, the former EU Commission President, said last night. “In Europe, it will open a very serious crisis which will slow down European construction, to the disadvantage of France.”
Source: The Times
|
