> Si in fond ce daca europenii voteaza " nu " ? Nu este un vot impotriva Romaniei sau Bulgariei, ci impotriva Consitutiei Europene. Sper sa va amintiti ca tratatul de aderare in UE cu Romania si Bulgaria a fost semnat de toate membrele Uniunii, urmand ca Ro sa devina membra cel tarziu in 2008.
By Ian Bickerton in Amsterdam
Published: June 1 2005 18:35 | Last updated: June 1 2005 18:35
Financial Times
Having waited 150 years to hold its first national referendum, the Netherlands on Wednesday appeared to be conducting as many as 20 ballots and very few of them had much to do with ratification of the European constitutional treaty.
Interview-NSS, the polling organisation, found 20 arguments for voting No, in a poll for Dutch television that predicted the treaty would be rejected by 54 per cent of voters.
Heading the list of reasons was a fear that the Netherlands would lose influence in a Europe that would favour large countries. Close behind came domestic concerns, notably the view that Dutch political leaders have failed to consult the public and have run a woeful campaign to encourage ratification.
More than a quarter of No voters were against Turkey's application for EU membership, and nearly as many feared a European super-state or were voting against Jan Peter Balkenende, Dutch prime minister. Others simply said they did not like politics.
In the last weeks of the campaign, the argument that the Dutch guilder had been undervalued against the euro was a thorn in the government's side.
Despite the efforts of cabinet and state statisticians to rebut claims that prices have risen in the shops, the impression has stuck that the public has been short-changed by the single currency. One-in-three No voters cited opposition to the euro as a reason for rejecting the treaty.
Kars Veling, a senior Christen Unie politician who, unlike his party, supported the treaty, said: "It is not one, but 10 referendums, all at the same time. That is reason enough to feel nervous about this process."
But what will cause most concern in Brussels and countries that have yet to ratify the treaty is the fact that only four per cent of Dutch voters said their voting decision had been influenced by the French No vote last Sunday.
A Dutch No vote means the constitutional treaty has been rejected by two founder states from opposite sides of the ideological divide between the federal interventionist camp and the Atlanticists who favour a looser, less regulated Europe.
A senior European diplomat in the Hague said Dutch rejection pointed to a deeper schism in Europe, that went further than domestic gripes. If as expected, the British government scraps plans for its referendum next year, that factor will be seen to have been key, he added.
"The Dutch are very different. The Netherlands is smaller and, if anything, it follows the British view of economic reform, and is pro-Atlanticist. But clearly you have two results that - if they both say the same - raise profound questions about the future of Europe and require a period of reflection."
Recriminations have already begun in the Yes camp over how it lost control of the agenda to the No campaign. By the time the Yes campaign got going, the No voters had set the agenda, fighting the battle on a broad front that included many of the issues highlighted by the Interview-NSS poll.
The Yes campaign never presented a coherent, "killer argument", nor did it have the persuasive personality to sell the arguments it did have. Even charismatic politicians such as Wouter Bos, leader of the opposition social democrat PvdA, could not persuade their members to back the treaty.
Jan Peter Balkenende, Dutch prime minister, tried to launch a debate on Europe eight months ago during the Dutch EU presidency. Val�ry Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the constitutional treaty, addressed the opening event in a series of discussions in The Hague. But the project was derided by the Dutch media as high-brow and philosophical, further evidence of the gulf between politics and people.
On Wednesday the only thing the Dutch appeared to agree on was the need to have that debate, but the European project is already in deep trouble.
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