JULY 2005
Although the “yes” vote of Luxembourg was extremely narrow, some managed to regard it as a positive sign: Luxembourg had given Europe “a new chance for the ratification process” said Martin Schulz, head of Socialists in the European Parliament. Jo Leinen, President of the EU Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee, agreed: The vote was “a clear signal that the European Constitution is not dead”. Which was also what former French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said: “the Constitution is not dead.”
According to French Europe Minister Catherine Colonna the “yes” of 56.5 % in Luxembourg is “very important because it shows that the European project can still convince people. After two negative votes, in France and the Netherlands, it is a remarkable result for the whole of Europe.” But she “does not imagine that it will be possible to make the French vote a second time on the same text” as Juncker suggested.
Also in the Netherlands there won’t be a second referendum. The speaker of Netherlands’ lower house Frans Weisglas said: “The Constitution will not be re-introduced” and Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch Prime Minister, confirmed this opinion. However Balkenende points out that the Dutch still very much want to be part of the EU. A “fear of a European super-state was preponderant in the discussions prior to the referendum in the Netherlands, as was concern about the scope of European cooperation and the speed with which it has been put in place.”
Concerning the Dutch and the French no vote, Pascal Lamy said: “The French and the Dutch said no to Europe as it is. It is the whole European project, or in any case the way in which it was presented, which was challenged.” The former EU Commissioner also notes that the EU Constitution ratification process should continue. “I think the ratification process should be pursued because we are not the only ones: the decision belongs to the 25 countries, and the 25 countries must all answer the question. It is the most democratic way.”
José Zapatero, the Spanish prime minister also marks that there are 12 countries, which have ratified the text. According to his spokesperson Zapatero is “conscious of the difficulties” but he will remind, that “the constitution is not dead and buried”.
Regarding the refusal of the constitution Mikhail Gorbachev writes in an article in the FT that “the rejection of the European Union’s proposed constitution in France and the Netherlands has shocked the European elite, who seemed to take for granted popular support for building a common European house. Although warnings that ratification could run into problems had been plentiful even before the constitution was signed, the would-be founding fathers brushed off the sceptics… the framers of the constitution had not envisaged any mechanism in case the ratification process went off course. In other words, they had decided everything beforehand, dismissing any thought that the people they claim to represent could disagree with them.”
After the rejection a time of reflection was proclaimed, which “must not be used to change the proposed text. Rather it is for changing the political and socio-psychological context of the ratification process” according to the former Polish foreign minister and MEP Bronislaw Geremek.
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