So the French have voted ‘no’ on the European Constitution. Not by a huge margin (56% so far voted no), but still a big blow for the very pro-european French government.
I wonder if the French are as starved of REAL information about the Constitution as we are. I know precious little about the actual contents, certainly not enough at the moment to vote on it. Even The Cheat, who practically wrote the Constitution (well, the bits that are in Swedish and relate to aviation and room temperature fluctuations in Berkshire towns) says he doesn’t know much about it.
As a general rule I’m pro-Europe. I like Europeans, I like the European way of doing things. The Euro strikes me as a very good idea indeed. But I really don’t like the undemocratic way the constitution seems to have been drawn up, and the blunt options we’re to be given if it goes to a referendum – no choice on what goes in, no alternatives, just a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. I’m not surprised the French voted ‘no’ – they are on the whole a fabulously beligerent bunch, and I can’t see them accepting something so poorly nuanced and unpoetic in its formation and presentation. Gotta love the French.
Soundtrack – Paul Simon, ‘One Trick Pony’.