France votes on EU constitution
Artykuł pochodzi z pisma "Guardian"
France votes on EU constitution
Europe's eyes turned to France today as the country delivered its verdict on the European Union constitution.
Nearly 42m voters were eligible to cast ballots in the pivotal vote on the charter, which polls suggested the French would reject.
The constitution must be ratified by all 25 EU member states before it can take effect, so a French no could kill it.
Polling stations were due to close at 8pm (1900BST) - except in Paris and Lyon, where residents were granted an extra couple of hours to vote. The first results were expected by 10pm local time.
About 1.5m voters in France's overseas territories cast their votes yesterday. Results were being kept secret until all the polls closed, but the turnout in the Caribbean was less than 30%. In Guadeloupe, it was as low as 22%.
The French traditionally tend to vote later and by midday just over a quarter of urban voters had turned out to cast their votes, according to Le Monde. Turnout in Paris was 18.2% - higher than in 1992, when the French voted on the Maastricht treaty.
The pavements of Paris's Left Bank neighbourhood of Montparnasse were covered with flyers pushing for a yes vote.
"Sunday, Think Before Voting," read the flyers, comparing the referendum to France's 2002 presidential election, when President Jacques Chirac faced down extreme right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
A collective French yes - coupled with a similar result in the Dutch referendum on Wednesday - could give the charter unstoppable momentum, with a dozen other nations left to decide its fate in the coming months.
But it looks unlikely - despite France's historic support for the European project, with two Frenchmen, Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet, having launched the six-nation European Coal and Steel Community in 1951.
Arnaud Senlis, 27, carrying his two-year-old son on his shoulders, was among those casting a yes ballot.
"I never thought twice about it," he said, complaining that the intense debate ahead of Sunday's vote "seemed more about national politics and politicians' personal ambitions than a real debate about Europe's future".
Katia Volman, a 22-year-old student, left her ballot blank, saying the issues were too complicated to fully digest. "I had so many reasons to vote yes or no so I left it blank and that way I won't regret my decision two days later," she said.
The yes camp had desperately sought to capture votes from undecided citizens like Ms Volman. Polls showed they make up some 20% of the electorate, giving them a crucial role in deciding the constitution's fate.
"If there was to be a French no vote - a serious big rejection of the treaty - followed by a rejection in the Netherlands, then I think that this treaty is in effect dead," said John Palmer, an analyst with the European Policy Centre in Brussels, Belgium.
"The danger then would be that we would enter a period of profound stagnation, maybe for two, three or more years, until we have new elections in France and some of the other key countries," he said.
Supporters of the constitution, which EU leaders signed in October, say it will streamline EU operations and decision-making, make the bloc more accessible to its 450m citizens and give it a president and foreign minister so it can speak with one voice in world affairs.
Opponents fear it will strip nations of sovereignty and trigger an influx of cheap labour, even as European powers such as France and Germany struggle to contain unemployment.
Nine nations - Austria, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain - have already ratified it by referendum or parliamentary vote.
While a defeat would shake the EU to its core, it could plunge France - one of the architects of the project - into political chaos. Mr Chirac's popularity ratings have plunged to 39% in recent weeks, and he has already hinted that he will fire his unpopular prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, whatever the result.
If the French reject the treaty, Mr Chirac would suffer the humiliation of becoming only the second leader, after Charles de Gaulle, to lose a referendum since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958.
The constitution's opponents, who range from Mr Le Pen to the former socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius, have suggested the charter could be re-negotiated to suit French tastes.
But Mr Chirac has warned that a no would mean "Europe would be broken down, searching for an impossible consensus".
ballot- głos
capture- pojmać, chwytać, opanować
cast- głosowac, wrzucać
digest- przyswajać
eligible- kwalifikujący się do
flyer- ulotka
hint- dawać wskazówki, sugerować
humiliation- upokorzenie, poniżenie
influx- napływ, przypływ
launch- wprowadzać, lansować
pivotal- główny, centralny
plunge- pogrążać
profound- szeroki, gruntowny
trigger- powodować, wywoływać
turnout- frekwencja
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