France is going to hold a referendum on May 29, 2005, to decide whether France should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union. The date was announced by the office of the president on March 4, 2005. All current opinion polls in France show a 55 to 45% margin of likely voters is opposed to the constitution.

Socialist Party vote on stance

On December 1, 2004, the Socialist Party held a vote among its members to determine the stance it would take. The "yes" side was led by party leader François Hollande while the "no" side was led by deputy leader Laurent Fabius. The question to which voters were asked to respond with was "Do you agree with the European Constitution?". Out of 127,027 members eligible to vote, about 59% voted yes, with a turnout of 79%. Out of 102 Socialist regional federations, 26 voted no.

Amendment to the French Constitution

The Constitutional Council of France ruled that the European Constitution could not legally coexist with the current constitution of France. For that reason, a vote was taken to amend the constitution of France in order to make the two documents compatible.

This amendment passed in an extraordinary joint session of members of the parliament and deputies at the palace of Versailles, on 28 February, 2005, with 730 votes in favour and 66 votes against, with 96 abstentions. Both the ruling party and the opposition Socialists supported the constitutional amendment. Communist Party members were the only ones voting against it. [1]

Opinion polls and campaign

Opinion polls previously showed a lead in favour of the Constitution. [2] [3]. However, all opinion polls since mid-March indicate that the opposition has a clear lead. [4].

Many objections in France concerning the Constitution seem to center around the opinion that the Constitution will enforce a neoliberal economic model on the continent. In particular, much of the ill will seems to have spilled over from the staunch opposition that exists in the country to the proposed Bokestein directive, an EU Directive on services in the internal market.

It is also believed that many French people link the Constitution in their minds with the possibility of the accession of Turkey to the European Union, with which most of the French population disagrees.

Campaign Sites

• Pro EU/Constitution Site with Campaign Graphics