If you believe the polls, anyway:
Morebad news from France for the European Union: A new opinion poll comingout Monday suggests that most French voters would reject the EUconstitution if a referendum were held today.
The French will not be called on to vote until May 29, but the pollis the second in less than a week indicating that France could strikedown the EU’s historic attempt to adopt a constitution.
As a fan of the EU,I find this worrisome, to say the least. The EU constitution, aswritten, imposes a lot of new, federal-style institutions on membernations and EU citizens. Among others, it provides for a more powerfulEU judiciary, a unified legal personality, and a single EU diplomaticrepresentative. Additionally, being an EU member increasingly meanssupporting poorer countries; some of the most recent admittees to theEU also have the lowest GDP in the EU. Slate has chronicled what seem to be the dwindling priveleges of EU membership. The European Parliament, theoretically the most democratic of the EU’sthree branches, remains structurally the weakest.
While this has allbeen happening, the EU has done precious little to improve itsrelations with man-on-the-street Europeans. They see the EUgovernment as a distant, nondescript body. (Jolyon Howorth, an EUscholar and professor of mine, tells a story about the UK placing thedraft Constitution on seats at soccer matches, only to have them usedas weapons in ensuing riots.)
Especially given the France poll’semphasis on public apathy, one has to wonder: Is the European publicbeginning to question the wisdom of their project? I don’t have a clearanswer; it’s just a worrying sign. Thoughts?
