The EU's political elites are struggling to explain why this rejection of the Union's Constitution is happening. They also are fighting to keep the ratification process going.
Legally, according to Declaration 30 of the Constitution, the ratification process should be continued, but many political commentators and some member states (eg the UK and the Czech Republic) feel that, politically, the Constitution may be already dead and wonder if they should continue with the ratification.
Declaration 30 provides for the case that, two years after the signature of the treaty, four fifths of the member states have ratified and some member states have "encountered difficulties in proceeding with ratification". In that case, the matter will be "referred to the European Council".
Some countries fear that the downward spiral of 'no' votes will have a negative influence on the future voting in their countries. The Dutch vote seems likely to have been influenced in such a way by the French 'non' and opinion polls ahead of the Luxembourg referendum in July also indicate that the 'no' camp has benefited from the 'non' in France.
