So the "non" side is gloating and proud of having caused consternation amongst the undemocratic, arrogant, laisser-faire elites that wanted to push the (absurdly lenghty, bureaucratic and stifling) EU Constitution down the throats of the French people.
Now what? France has said a big "fuck you" to the other Europeans and to its own political and pundit class. It's democratic, it's healthy, it's a sign of resistance against globalisation. It's a breather from reckless enlargement and forced convergence, accompanied by crushing financial policies.
Great. Now what?
What do we actually do? What do you propose, in concrete terms? How do we move away from the Nice Treaty, which is still in full force, and which is worse, in all respects, than the Constitution (less social, more bureaucratic, even more impossible to read, no Charter of Fundamental Rights, and a third fewer votes for France within Europe)?
How do you convince the Brits, the Poles, the Maltese, to agree to anything different? Who will you talk to? Not their governments; they are obviously not representative and democratic enough (unless a different standard applies to them than to France). How do you talk to their populations? Who will agree on their behalf to your yet-unseen project? Or do you decide for them how they should proceed?
And who will speak on behalf of France? The communist party? the National Front? The dissident wing of the Socialist party? Or Chirac, who's still going to be around for 2 years? Or Sarkozy, who has promised a really conservative policy in his bid for the prime minister's job?
Or do we wait 2 years until the next elections, with both Nice and Chirac in the meantime? Or a lot longer? And then what? How do you actually build a more social/democratic Europe, as opposed to just invoking one? Do we dump the existing institutions to start with a new group of countries? Which ones? Angela Merkel's Germany? Blair's UK? Berlusconi's Italy? Do we keep any of what exists, or do we dump it all? Who chooses? And who chooses who chooses?
And what should we focus on?
- a really democratic European Parliament, where France will be in a small minority, and where the majority will be to the right anyway? (France has always opposed strengthening the European parliament)
- a protectionist "préférence communautaire"? (Try selling that to the world's biggest exporter Germany.)
- the French "social model"? (defined how? by its unemployment level? by the amount of subsidies given to companies to pay people less? by the restrictions to firing people? by the 35 hour week? by the fact that one worker in four is a in a public service job?) Do you think there will be any takers?
- majority voting. On what topics? Do you give freemarket, sovereigntist Britain a veto, or do we all agree to majority vote, with the risk that we are in a minority on - gasp - social issues? Or do we invent Europe-wide referendums for each decision? Or do we kick uncooperative countries out? until how many are left?
- a neutral, professional, light administrative body to represent pan-European interests against national ones? Or a free-for-all of countries talking together Congress of Vienna style?
Do we care what other countries want from Europe? Are we willing to take that into account?
The "oui" side had answers to all these questions. the "non" has none.NONE. Just the opinion that things could or should be better, somehow. That by kicking the people that painstakingly negotiated the Constitution for 2 years, they will simply go back to work and do it better. That by propagating lies about the European Union, trust between the peoples will be easier to build.
Who the fuck are you kidding?
And who the fuck is arrogant?
Please, please, provide answers, not catalogues of desires with zero chance of implementation in real life. Give timetables, procedures, allocate responsibilities. Please.
ooh, it's complicated... so you'll go back on the offensive to change the topic: Why did we call it a constitution when it's really a treaty? Why did we ask for a referendum when we cannot explain what we did? The enlargement has never really been approved, nor was the Single Act, nor is Turkey's future accession... and so on, and so forth.
No. Please tell us: what's the fucking alternative from what we have now? How do you get out of Nice? Do you stop paying for the enlargment? Do you kick the Brits (and other (uncooperative) nations with different visions of Europe) out? Who decides who's in or out? How do you get the Germans and Dutch to keep on paying for our farmers after having told them that you don't really like the whole thing as it is now?
Or do we start singing: Nice is nice?
Okay. I understand. It just feels good to break things once in a while, to slam the door and sulk. Mummy and Daddy will make dinner anyway. Stupid fucking brats.
But hey, what do I know? I'm in my bubble.
The mess is all yours. Enjoy it while you can.