Since there is a story on the French election on the front page defending the yes, I feel forced to share another perspective with my American friends. Please recommend it so it can offer some balance to the frontpage story that everyone is reading, which is angering me. It is NOT true that the "no" vote will weaken Europe and strenghten the US. QUITE THE CONTRARY.
I voted 20 minutes ago in Paris. I voted "NO".
The "NO" vote is a leftist vote. Polls indicate that 65% of the "no" voters have a "non de gauche" (no of the left), which has drastically different arguments than the "non de droite" (no of the right).
Since its foundation, the European Union was designed as an economic entity, intended to first recover from the post-WWII crisis and then to prove a legitimate competitor to the United States. From the beginning, its stated priority has been the establishment of a `common single market' and the free circulation of people, services and capital. Great. But you cannot institutionalize economical policies. You cannot make ECONOMICAL policies POLITICAL through a constitution.
The communist countries institutionalized socialist economics with soviet constitutions and the EU Constitution is doing the same with capitalist ideology.
The EU Constitution creates a political union based on economical policies, instead of first creating a political entity and then organizing common economical policies within it.
The Constitution would make it impossible for a leftist government to implement progressive policies, and that the Constitution would force every nation to conform to the right-wing agenda of a free unregulated laissez-faire market. The Constitution's vision of unity imposes a decidedly right-wing economic model through political force.
There are many more reasons to vote "no", including:
- The famous second part that advocates for the human and social rights has no significance and basically does not apply to national juridisctions. Also, a country can completely disresepct it without any consequences, while disrespecting the economical policies outlined in the Constitution leads to sanctions and punishments.
- THe Constitution endangers the social model of Europe, especially the institution of the "public companies", state-run companies. Defenders of the "yes" say it defends them, but it is simply not true. It defends "entreprises d'intérêt général", and that term is never defined in the Constitution, and there is no reason to think it is the same thing as "entreprise public", as the defenders of the YES claim.
3) The Constitution would have made it impossible for countries such as France and Germany to have opposed the war in Iraq. Is THAT what it means for Europe to be strenghtened? This Constitution is EXACTLY what Blair and Berlusconi would want to lead Europe into American wars.
4) The Constitution is simply NOT DEMOCRATIC. The only ELECTED body is the Parlamient, which has the least power. ALL THE others are either elected for national reasons (the Council is the meeting of all the national heads of states) or NOMINATED. NOTHING ELSE! And the EU has HUGE power! What kind of system is this where the only democraticaly elected body (though nobody votes) is the one that has almost no voice in anything, since the European COmmission can basically disregard most of what the Parlamient wants?!!!!!
Fire away.