Would Canadians accept a North American constitution?? Of course no! The debate moved far beyond what Europe was built to be: a free trade zone. Now European politician want more power, always more and more power. A constitution is the supreme law. The piece of paper that we, mere mortals, follow blindly almost like we would follow a god. Now they want a supreme law above and boyond the supreme law of independant countries. In my book, that is EVIL! Only politician agree with it btw. The population does not. We, Quebecers, were fooled once by signing the Canadian constitution being told it was for the good of our economy. Look the mess it got us into now
Complained against high inflation since introduction of Euro? And to think that (until Jan-2005) had appreciated FIFTY PERCENT (50%) against USD (and Yuan and -at a lesser degree- Yen) since 2002. Which actually damped the rises in commodities (oil etc) and made all the imported stuff (Chinese textiles, Asian electronics, Japanese cars/bikes) 30-50% cheaper for Eurozone consumers than these same goods were 3yr ago. If in case of Holland it's actually "inflation" that they're voting against, then EU does a terrible marketing its case, compared e.g. to the US. Many Americans (even here in this forum) have been apparently convinced that "core inflation" there runs at 2.5% Btw I thought the Dutch "NO" was again a case against Turkey: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1519658,00.html ------------- These fears are being given voice by the maverick politician Geert Wilders, whose opposition to radical Islam, Turkey and the constitution has propelled him ahead of the Government in the polls. Writes Browne: In a recent speech in Rotterdam, Mr Wilders said: "The political elite wants to admit Turkey to the Union, an Islamic land of millions, that will have an enormous influence on the federal superstate. Because of the new European constitution, Turkey will have more influence on Dutch legislation than the Netherlands itself. It can't become crazier than this." ----------------
Are you indicating this is merely France's way of protesting Islamic extremist terrorists from being admitted into the EU? Because if you are... I'd believe it.
In the same article there is a quote - "The euro is a big issue. Everything has doubled in price." I have heard the same complaints in Ireland and Spain. Of course there are lots reasons why people have rejected the EU Constitution (and why others have approved it) - many of them not related to the Constitution itself. The Constituion says nothing about Turkey, for instance, but it seems to be a big part of the No campaign.
Confusion seems to be a constant characteristic of EU countries over the last 200+ years. As for your country Spain, this advanced state of bloody confusion has been masterly described in 'Hommage to Catalonia' by no other than George Orwell himself (a Trostkyist fighter for Spanish democracy). Apparently, things have not changed much since these earlier exercices on the road to democracy. (At the end of his life, Orwell became wise and wrote 'Animal Farm' as his final testament.) Of course the same point can be made for many others. As for the Dutch, at a time about 10 years after George Orwell wrote his book about Spain, the Dutch government actively operated a Public Emigration Service in helping its fellow Dutchmen 'emigrate' (read flee) from Holland - a country with a population density like Bangladesh. Talking about sheer madness, confusion still seems to reign supreme in Old Holland as well. Mr Wilders' above quote seems quite to the point: "It can't become crazier than this." Tonight, we'll hear about the verdict of the people of the Netherlands: 'Je Maintiendrai - Luctor & Emergo'. Visibly, the Ancient Greek poet was right when he wrote that the gods first drive a man into madness before destroying him.