Thursday, June 02, 2005

It's the Constitution, stupid

Now that voters in France and the Netherlands have rejected the EU Constitution, Labour and the Tories can breath a sigh of relief that Europe won't raise its ugly head so soon in the new Parliament. But relief, or dismay, at not being able to rake up the old fears and half-truths in a referendum campaign might be misplaced. After all, the Dutch and French - far more ardent Europeans than the British - rejected the Constitution for very different reasons than the UK electorate would put at the top of its collective hate list.

In France, rejection was largely due to wide spread mistrust of "Anglo Saxon" free market privatisation and outsourcing - the very things that Blair openly champions. Could it just be that the French might be on to something here. Although he won't have to try and sell an unpopular Constitution at home, is Blair secretly hoping the reason for its rejection won't catch on this side of the Channel?

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