Polls show French in favour of EU constitution

PARIS - With less than a month to go before France votes on the European Union's constitution, left wing leaders and stars of entertainment and culture are galloping to the aid of the beleaguered "yes" campaign, giving it its first slender hopes of victory.

Those called to battle include German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and France's former Socialist leader, Lionel Jospin, who has stepped out of self-imposed political retirement to make a blunt warning about the consequences of a "no" vote on May 29. Rock stars and fashionistas have also joined the cause, giving it a much-needed touch of glitz.

Schroeder flew to Paris last week for a joint meeting of the French-German cabinets, an event stage-managed to remind the world just how far two wartime foes have come in forging peace thanks to European co-operation.

With a desperate-looking French President Jacques Chirac at his side, the German Social Democrat leader said that if the charter were rejected, Europe would be doomed to a downward spiral. It would be forced into a minor role in a world dominated by the United States and emerging countries such as China.

"If Europe wants to make itself heard internationally, we need the European constitution," Schroeder said.

Jospin, a heavy hitter in French politics, made his first television appearance in three years to make a forceful appeal to Socialist faithful to cast a "yes" vote rather than a protest vote to punish Chirac, a conservative.

"On May 29, whom do we answer to? To our partners in Europe, not Jacques Chirac," he said.

"If we have a political problem to resolve in France, let's do it within France and not make Europe a hostage to our discussions. To vote against the constitutional treaty is to punish France, to punish Europe and not to punish the present Government."

If approved by all 25 EU members, the constitution will overhaul the EU's institutions and strengthen the powers of the European Parliament, marking the next phase in a five-decade-long gradual transfer of national sovereignty to Brussels.

It will also establish Europe's first charter of fundamental rights and declare that every national of a member state will be a citizen of the EU.

France, as a founder member of the EU and one of the forces behind the centralisation process, was considered a sure-fire bet to approve the charter.

But for weeks, poll after poll gave a big lead to the "no" campaign, raising the prospect of a political catastrophe for the EU and prompting Jospin to leap back into politics.

Within four days of Jospin's intervention, three opinion polls gave the "yes" campaign a share of between 51 and 53 per cent of the vote, among those who say they have made up their minds. As many as a quarter of the electorate, though, remains undecided.

France's cultural elite has also swung its weight powerfully behind the "yes" vote.

"You have to vote 'yes'," veteran rocker Johnny Hallyday said on the sidelines of the Meetings for Europe and Culture, gathering several hundred writers, singers, actors and directors. "We, the French, cannot stay outside of Europe. That would be a step backwards, it wouldn't be a good thing."

French actress Jeanne Moreau added: "I'm voting 'yes'. I think we have everything to gain."

British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood advised voters: "Don't bore yourselves reading all 800 pages of the treaty. Just vote 'yes'. It's so important."

Chirac yesterday made his second TV pitch in less than three weeks, bolstered by the turnaround in fortunes provided by his critics and political adversaries.

Chirac told French viewers the EU constitution was the "daughter" of the French Revolution of 1789. The treaty was based on values which "are in reality those of France", he said.

Asked if a "no" vote would be a personal failure, he said: "I don't know if it would be a difficult moment for me, but ... it would be a very difficult moment for France.

"[France] would emerge from this adventure considerably weakened, weakened in terms of defending its interests, its values, and responsible for a breakdown of the European project that it has been developing for 50 years."

The "non" effort is grassroots, driven by rebel members of the Socialist Party, along with small far-left and far-right parties. They are playing on popular worries about the EU that have sprouted ever since the Union enlarged from 15 to 25 countries on May 1 last year, admitting poor countries from the former Communist eastern and central Europe.

Even though the enlargement has nothing to do with the constitution debate, it has fanned fears of a job haemorrhage in France, as employers relocate their plants in the east and the local market becomes flooded with cheap labour from Poland, Slovakia and elsewhere.

Other factors that are playing a role - again, none of them with any connection to the constitution - are the EU's plans to negotiate the entry of Turkey and Chirac's unpopularity.

Although the Socialists are the largest single party in Parliament, they have remained rudderless and faction-ridden since the death of Francois Mitterrand in 1996.

But among the party faithful, Jospin stands out, not just because of his solid left wing credentials but also his sense of honour: he quit politics in 2002, accepting the blame after he was trounced as the Socialists' candidate in the first round of the presidential elections.

History may say that Jospin's foray helped turn the course of the battle - both for the EU and, ironically, for Chirac himself.

- additional reporting INDEPENDENT