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Why France rejects EU constitution?
Xinhua  Updated: 2005-05-30 15:53

PARIS -- Analysts attribute France's rejection to the European Union (EU) constitution to dissatisfaction with the government's economic policy and voters' concerns over perceived damage to France's interests in the EU.

President of the French Socialist Party (PS) Francois Hollande said the rejection to the treaty is the rejection to the government.

"The French expressed again on this occasion their anger and their exasperation towards the head of state," Hollande, a major advocator of the "yes" camp, said on national television shortly after the result was announced.

Mariette Sinean, a political scientist at Paris' Sciences Politics University, said: "It is a condemnation of the government's economic policy, It (shows) anger about unemployment and anxiety about economic precariousness and lack of jobs."

The referendum gave French people an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction over the country's sluggish economic growth and the government's cost-cutting reforms, said analysts here.

France has an unemployment rate of 10.2 percent, the highest in five years.

The referendum result showed dissatisfaction with the economicand social situation: growing unemployment and declining standards of living, said Hollande.

Many "no" advocators also feared that the charter will bring new competition from central and eastern Europe, where labor costs are lower, said analysts.

For the opposition camp, the constitution means damage to French economic model and Anglo-Saxon influence in the EU. The charter enshrines an "ultra-liberal economic model which puts market interests ahead of social concerns, said opposers.

"To many voters, the treaty is a liberal charter, which puts our social system into question," said Stephane Rozes from the CSA polling group.

"If we vote for this treaty, we are denying ourselves the means to fight for job protection, wage levels and workers' living conditions," said Henri Emmanuelli, a Socialist of the "no" camp.

They said the charter makes EU's defense dependent on NATO, and therefore the United States.

"To many French people, this is directly liked to US policy, highlighting US imperialism in military and economic matters,"said Sinean.

"The text puts us under Anglo-Saxon influence and NATO dependence," said Laurent Fabius, a Socialist.

Some also worried that France's influence will decline inside the EU as the constitution strips countries of more sovereign rights and moves power to Brussels.

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