[Cornpone]

Europe has been in crisis since 1776.

[Cornpone]

Ping....

[SmithL]

And France can't get along with anybody.

[GretchenM]

plunging the EU into crisis

A war is a crisis. Famine, plague, drought, floods, economic collapse, are crises.

This is not a crisis.

[LdSentinal]

[kjvail]

Ok let me wrap my brain around this...

Chirac is what France calls a conservative ?????

[reformedliberal]

What wonderful news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am smiling! Now the Dutch have every incentive to follow suit.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

"Many voters wanted to punish Chirac and his conservative government over unemployment that is at a 5-year high of 10.2 percent and other economic problems."
Ha ha ha! I am no Francophobe, but the reality is many Americans continue to boycott France over their lack of cooperation with the war against Iraq, and related collusion with our enemy including profitting from the UN's corrupt oil-for-food boondoggle. Why else would unemployment be so high since the war. They shot themselves in the tourist dollars foot and now they are complaining about it. Har, har, har.

[righttackle44]

"Europe has been in crisis since 1776."

Well said, Cornpone!

[Wiz]

Yahoo! France is going to face anger from the rest of Europe!

[Caipirabob]

Many voters wanted to punish Chirac and his conservative government...

Here's your first hint that France is clueless. Chirac wouldn't just be thrown out of the conservative movement in the US, he'd be thrown under a bus.

[Caipirabob]

Despite the incredible humiliation this loss means for Chirac, don't expect him to own up and leave office.

After all, it is SUMMER in France soon and it's not like his own family won't leave him alone in the house when they leave for vacation...

[beyond the sea]

France rejects EU treaty, Europe faces crisis ---

***

ROFL!

[Blake#1]

The French Government should have supported GW Bush in bringing freedom to Irag. The French population saw that picture of the Iragi woman with her finger dipped in purple ink signifying she voted, with a tear coming down from her eye. The average Frenchman/woman knows what is right. IMHO this vote is telling the corrupt socialist of Europe to "shape up"!

[goldstategop]

The French rejection of the EU Constitution can be read as a vote of no-confidence in both the French political class as well as the European establishment in Brussels. Their policies clearly have not made life better for French people. Whether they intend to change course to address popular concerns is the key question. No initiative to unify Europe can succeed without genuine grassroots input. And it has to have democratic legitimacy to attract widespread support. This defect proved to be the undoing of the EU Constitution.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)