A French Referendum?

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More information is now becoming available about the proposed UK referendum on the EU constitution which Nick drew our attention to yesterday.

The FT has an article today which fleshes out some more details, including the fact that an ‘unnamed’ French minister expressed fears that any decision by U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair to hold a referendum on the European Union constitution may hurt the treaty’s implementation.

“We don’t see any malice in Tony Blair’s decision as he is not an adversary of European construction . . . However, it [Mr Blair’s move] does create difficulties as the treaty needs to be ratified by all members.”

You bet it creates difficulties. Seven other EU members have already indicated they will or could hold referendums on the treaty: the Czech Republic, Denmark, Luxembourg, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Now it is clear that France will be under pressure to do likewise. It would be a foolish person who tried to make a short-list at this stage of those which were a certain bet to say yes.

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About Edward Hugh

Edward 'the bonobo is a Catalan economist of British extraction. After being born, brought-up and educated in the United Kingdom, Edward subsequently settled in Barcelona where he has now lived for over 15 years. As a consequence Edward considers himself to be "Catalan by adoption". He has also to some extent been "adopted by Catalonia", since throughout the current economic crisis he has been a constant voice on TV, radio and in the press arguing in favor of the need for some kind of internal devaluation if Spain wants to stay inside the Euro. By inclination he is a macro economist, but his obsession with trying to understand the economic impact of demographic changes has often taken him far from home, off and away from the more tranquil and placid pastures of the dismal science, into the bracken and thicket of demography, anthropology, biology, sociology and systems theory. All of which has lead him to ask himself whether Thomas Wolfe was not in fact right when he asserted that the fact of the matter is "you can never go home again".

3 thoughts on “A French Referendum?”

  1. Ah, Monsieur Blair is being so unreasonable, mes amis! What is this nonsense about giving “the people” a voice in their future? We all know how funny the canaille can be about voting the right way, and now he’s going to give our lot ideas above their station!

    Non, it should be for us to decide these things, not the rabble – that’s why we have ENA and Oxbridge degrees and they do not.

  2. Yes, I’m more than a little uncomfortable with what happens in the event of a British no vote. Being the odd one out (a distinct possibility) is not likely to be an especially advantageous position. Not to mention the weakening of the government on the domestic front in that event. I do wonder if this isn’t why Gordon Brown is so keen on the prospect of a referendum; it could be exactly what he needs to force Blair out after the election.

  3. I hope the French do push for a referendum. There’s no real reason why the people of Europe can’t have all the things they like about the EU (ease of travel for instance) without submitting themselves to rule by a massive international bureaucracy.

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