For complete text and many good relevant links, please see http://www.wednesday-night.com/Wed1213page2.asping in which they implicitly believe? The success of the European Union should have motivated the French and Dutch to give their unqualified support to the proposed constitution but, as predicted, they did not. At the obvious intellectual level, Britain, France and Germany are very supportive as long as they are major players. There appears at some level, to be a belief that Greenwich lies at the centre of the planet. If this is the case, it was astute of Mr. Blair to avoid the debate completely. As for France, M. Chirac’s endorsement provided the basis for its opposition by all those who opposed him, whether or not they were opposed to the concept. Hypothetically, because no referendum was held there, Italy would have joined France and the Netherlands because it is currently experiencing a very difficult time financially mostly due, it is believed, to poor leadership but, also because, as a member of the European Union the government is not permitted to compensate through fiscal measures At the ballot box level, there are many explanations for the French public to reject the constitution. The most convincing explanation is that historically an overwhelming percentage of referenda is won by the No side. In this instance, the instinct to vote No may very well have been strengthened by the fact that in the proposed constitution the words, social programs, competition and bankse media proclaim that the French and Dutch referendums have dashed hopes of political union in Europe, but Canadian experience would indicate that this neither spells a death knell, nor is it permanent. The European Union is far from ending up as a failed noble experiment. The referendum is a very poor tool to ratify a constitution, a complex document drafted by bureaucrats, especially when ratification by the legislatures of E.U. countries would have sufficed. European leaders will meet on 16-17 June for a summit that could decide the future of the constitution. Stay tuned!