Free Republic

PARIS, May 30 - The shock waves of France's rejection of a constitution for Europe reverberated throughout the Continent on Monday, with Britain suggesting that it might cancel its own popular vote on the document and the naysayers in the Netherlands gaining even more confidence that a no vote will prevail in a referendum there on Wednesday. In France, the vote plunged the center-right government into crisis. President Jacques Chirac will announce "decisions concerning the government" and make a declaration on French television on Tuesday. The statement was interpreted to mean that he would dismiss Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and...

TODAY'S announcement that the French have rejected the European Constitution is seen by Tony Blair and the European establishment as a "serious problem". The fact that on Thursday the Dutch could follow suit could make life even more difficult for the Brussels bureaucrats who have staked their future and their considerable salaries on its acceptance. Their instinct will be to persuade Mr Blair, when he assumes the rotating EU presidency on July 1, to try and save this blueprint for the future. And indeed it will be his also. The Prime Minister believes that his place in history could be...

TODAY the electorate of France votes in its national referendum on the proposed EU constitution; it will be followed by voters in the Netherlands giving their verdict on Wednesday. The stakes could not be higher for the European Union, its ruling elite and the citizens of its member states, including Britain, whose own referendum on the constitution is now being subjected to a cynical game of political brinkmanship. Despite the consistency of poll findings showing the No vote ahead in both France and Holland, the large proportion of undecided voters makes it hazardous - as well as presumptuous - to...