Leading French socialist fears Europe’s breakdown if his party votes against Constitution

Former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn has warned
that a ‘no’ vote in the Socialist Party’s internal vote on the EU
Constitution on 1 December could lead to a “breakdown of Europe”.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former finance minister
and one of the French Socialist Party’s most senior figures,
has told the Financial Times and Les
Echos that if the French socialists were to vote against the
EU Constitution in an internal referendum next week, Europe could
“breakdown”. “I believe there would be unspeakable consequences: a
break with the history of the Socialist Party; a split from other
European socialist parties; and then, above all, a breakdown of
Europe,” he said. Former prime minister Lionel Jospin and former
Commission President Jacques Delors, who are also campaigning for a
‘yes’ vote, have warned that the treaty’s rejection would lead to a
situation of grave instability for the party. Furthermore, it would
isolate it from the European socialist political family which backs
the treaty. 

The French Socialist party ïs divided over whether to recommend
ratification of the EU’s new Constitutional Treaty, which Chirac
has promised will be put to the public in a referendum next
year. First Secretary Francois Hollande, who favours the
Constitution, has decided to hold  an internal vote by 120,000
card-carrying members on 1 December. He is in direct opposition to
his deputy, the former prime minister Laurent Fabius, who allied
himself with the left of the party. Fabius says the
proposed Constitution is a capitalists’ charter,  which would
impose a liberal model at odds with the values of the party.

If the socialists vote ‘no’, President Jacques Chirac may well
lose his bid to have the Constitution approved in the planned 2005
referendum. Supporters of the EU Constitution fear that a ‘no’ vote
in the socialist camp would encourage national opposition to
the treaty, leading to its rejection in next year’s
referendum. Under EU rules, the Constitution would then be
technically dead as it requires the approval of all 25 EU
member states.

Fabius is optimistic about winning, although polls in October
showed 65 percent of socialist voters supported the ‘yes’
campaign. He has been heavily criticised for using the issue to
push his own presidential ambitions. The depth of division
bodes badly for party unity, even after the issue is
settled.  

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