It's neck and neck... but at the moment, the NON's have it....

[Clio]

EUROPE'S ZERO HOUR

France Is Self Destructing Prior to EU Constitution Vote

By Romain Leick in Paris

All eyes in Europe are now on France as the country prepares to vote on the EU constitution. The political wrangling is reaching a fever pitch as each side accuses the other of populism and treason. But why, exactly, are the French so skeptical of the treaty?

AP

Just days before the EU constitution vote in France, surveys indicate the No camp is in the lead.

The boxing match is entering the final round -- and the gloves are coming off. Now, at this late date, anything goes and the rules of political decency have long since been discarded. One week before the French referendum over the European constitutional treaty, opponents and supporters are at each other's throats, almost as if the fate of Europe and the Republic were up for decision. The rest of the European Union can't help but ogle at the tug-o-war in morbid fascination.

Opponents, like parliamentarian Henri Emmanuelli -- a former president of the French parliament, current leader of the Socialist Party, and an angry spokesman for the left wing -- have likened a Yes vote to the shameful poll that put aging Marshall Philippe Pétain into power after France's defeat at the hands of the Germans in 1940. In other words, voting Yes is tantamount to treason. Supporters of the constitution on the other hand -- most prominently President Jacques Chirac -- see a No vote as a stab in the nation's back. In other words, voting No is a cowardly attack preventing the nation from future greatness.

Judging by the rhetoric in fact, an outside observer could be forgiven for thinking that everyone in France is a liar and a traitor.

more at Source: http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,357433,00.html

[Clio]

PARIS (Reuters) - France headed toward an electoral earthquake on Friday as polls showed voters were set to reject the European Union's constitution in a referendum and open the door to a period of political uncertainty.

Treaty supporters say rejection in Sunday's vote would kill the constitution and weaken France in Europe. Opponents say a "No" would force the EU to redraft the treaty, giving more protection for social services and workers.

President Jacques Chirac's televised appeal to voters on Thursday evening not to use the vote to punish his unpopular government left most commentators cold and his hint he would be changing prime ministers was met with derision.

"If the 'No' wins, there will be not only a European crisis ... but also an enormous political upheaval in France," said Christophe Barbier, deputy editor of L'Express magazine.

"All the leaders of the large parties will be discredited and we will enter a period of uncertainty which will be twilight time for Jacques Chirac and a jungle for all the parties trying to survive," he told Europe 1 radio.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was due in Lille and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who secured parliament's approval for the charter on Friday, was expected in Toulouse for last-minute rallies supporting the treaty.

In Rome, where European leaders signed the constitution last October, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi urged the French to vote "Yes."

Chirac hailed the approval of the charter by Germany's upper house of parliament and used the result as a final opportunity to laud the treaty.

"On the eve of the French people's choice, Germany's decision takes on a special and symbolic importance, and I salute it," Chirac wrote to Schroeder.

"Germany and France wanted and largely inspired this constitution, a treaty that will allow Europe to be stronger, more democratic, more effective, more social, in the service of shared values," he wrote.

UPHEAVAL

The charter's backers still hoped for a ballot box surprise, but the steady rise of the "No" vote in recent opinion polls to 55 percent seemed to make Sunday's result a foregone conclusion.

First estimates of the vote will come after polling stations close in big cities at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT).

The constitution is intended to make the EU work more smoothly following its enlargement last year and requires the backing of all 25 member states to go into force.

The Netherlands votes in a referendum next Wednesday, with polls pointing to a "No."

Warnings of political uncertainty if the constitution is voted down seem only to have encouraged the "No" camp to thumb its nose at the leaders urging them to vote for it, political scientist Philippe Mechet told LCI television.

"If you say there will be chaos tomorrow, they say fine, let's cause some chaos and see how they get out of it," he said.

Pollster Jerome Jaffre said voters' "disappointment and frustration will grow larger until 2007" -- the date of the next presidential and parliamentary elections.

Chirac's remark that he would seek " a new impetus" if the constitution were rejected -- a hint that he would fire Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin -- met with derision.

"We've been hearing that from Chirac for the past 10 years," Laurent Fabius, the leading Socialist opposing the treaty, told France 3 television.

Dashing Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin and Nicolas Sarkozy, ambitious head of Chirac's conservative Union for a Popular Movement party, are the frontrunners to replace Raffarin if he is sacked.

[David_McQueen]

le français a dit non. donc ce qu'après?

[David_McQueen]

Holland have their vote soon as well.

I am not a conspiracy theorist but I am intrigued by the constant pressing by our Prime Minister on the European Convention and the possibility of having a referendum in Britain on this when so much of Europe seems to be against it.

Hmmmm....

[wicklunds]

What part of "They shall not cleave one to another" do they not understand?? What part of it do we not understand?

[Ron Lambert]

I wonder how much longer the Euro will last.

Maybe we should have a single currency for all the Americas. We could call it the Ammo. The symbol would be a stylized bullet. Would the Canadians be willing to give up their Loonies and Twonies for the Ammo? Somehow I doubt it.