May 29, 2005
“Way To Go” For French Voters
Today’s Wall Street Journal Online features a story titled France Rejects EU Constitution.
Paris– The French decisively rejected the European Union’s proposed new constitution, plunging the bloc into polical paralysis and putting at least a temporary break on five decades of movement toward an ever-stronger pan-European government.
President Jacques Chirac said in a televised address late Sunday that he would decide later this week whether to shuffle his cabinet in response to the vote, which amounted to a bitter personal defeat for the French leader. A staunch supporter of the constitution, he conceded that his countrymen had spurned the charter, after partial official results indicated that the “no” vote was carrying the day by a margin of 57% to 43%.
This veering off from voting with Chirac could signal the beginnings of a lack of confidence among the rank and file Frenchman for Jock–sorry, I meant Jacques, which could be good news for that weasel country. Maybe the next president over there will be a little bit honest and also be endowed with a spine. Wait, we’re talking France here, what am I saying!?
As far as the EU is concerned, I’ve never thought the concept was a very good idea. I would hate to see the United States surrender some of our sovereignty by joining a bloc of countries like that. Imagine having a lot of our policies decided during a vote by Bolivia, Costa Rica and Canada.