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EU faces likely blow from the Dutch
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-01 23:24
The European Union hung in the balance yesterday with Dutch voters likely to
deal a possibly fatal blow to its constitution, raising serious questions about
what the bloc will do next.
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Dutch resident casts a "NO" vote in a referendum on the European Union
constitution in a polling station located in the "Duif" Church ( Pigeon
Church ) in Amsterdam June 1, 2005. [Reuters] | A "no" vote in the Netherlands, following on the heels of France's emphatic
rejection of the constitutional treaty on Sunday, may undo in half a week a text
that was drawn up and debated by 300 legislators and experts over a year.
Since the French referendum, and indeed just before it, officials in Brussels
have been muted--fearful that a wrong word might upset the voters. But opinions
are likely to flow more freely once the Dutch polls close.
The European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee has already called
an extraordinary meeting for early tomorrow and has invited deputies from the 25
member states' national assemblies.
"Whatever the outcome of the Dutch poll, I urge governments not to rush into
pronouncing the constitution dead," said Martin Schulz, head of the parliament's
Socialist group.
"It might suit domestic political needs in one or more countries to avoid
having a vote. But government leaders who are tempted to go down that path will
be tearing up the document that they all signed in Rome last October," he said
in a statement.
Whatever the result, the most likely scenario is that a "period of
reflection" will follow, with the silence being broken when EU leaders meet for
what in other circumstances would have been a routine summit on June 16-17.
The leaders have so far insisted that the ratification process will go ahead,
giving all members the chance to have their say on the text, which aims at
facilitating decision-making in the expanded Union.
Reports in the British press suggested that Prime Minister Tony Blair might
call off plans for a referendum after the Dutch vote, although he would probably
wait to discuss it with his colleagues at the summit before doing so.
Blair, who takes over the EU's rotating presidency on July 1, has so far been
at pains to keep open the possibility of a British referendum, which had been
expected to take place in the first half of next year.
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