Napkins, Church Tell France to Vote “Yes”
Italy became the first major European nation to ratify the EU constitution—on April 6, the upper house approved the treaty in an overwhelming majority. This brings the European Union constitution one step closer to coming into full effect.
Recent polls in France, however, have EU officials sweating. The fifth and latest poll of its kind indicates that 54 percent of French citizens will actually vote no to the EU constitution in a nationwide referendum May 29.
As we have been reporting, European Union officials will do anything to ensure their beloved treaty passes—the most dramatic action being that meps have set aside 8 million euros for an “information campaign” about the new constitution.
The latest in this information campaign is this: meps in Paris have produced 1.5 million napkins to distribute among French students. On the napkins can be found a link to a website with facts about the document and a phone number for free information about it. An EU press officer defended the plan: “Young people are in general quite poorly informed about the incoming referendum and the content of the new Constitution. Our idea is that they take the napkin home or to school and then look up more facts on the Internet” (EUobserver.com, April 7).
The French “yes” campaign is also getting help from religious officials. Also this week, France’s Christian leaders urged voters to back the constitution. The Council of Christian Churches (which represents the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox faiths in France) said the charter “brings substantial improvements to existing treaties” and “places man at the heart of European construction” (Agence France Presse, Reuters, March 30).
The constitution requires that all 25 nations ratify it before it can take effect. Some say a no from France (a founding member of a united Europe) would be a devastating blow. But then again, the referenda throughout Europe are not legally binding. National parliaments have the ultimate say whether their countries officially sign on to the charter. For instance, Spain hasn’t officially accepted the constitution, even though its referendum voiced a strong yes.
One technique used to sway the vote is that Germany’s lower house, the Bundestag, will vote on the constitution May 12—which leaders hope will be a psychological boost to the constitution for France’s May 29 plebiscite.
Watch to what lengths Eurocrats will go to keep their precious dreams alive.
The European Commission president has scolded European leaders (heavily implicating France in his comments): “When the heads of state … signed the consitutional treaty, they did so becuase they thought they had the means to get support [for it].”
One wonders why EU officials even give the people a choice, if they are so dead-set on pushing their ideas through anyway. Is it just to maintain an air of democracy? We at the Trumpet have never bought that ploy. See our articles “Freedom Marches Out of Europe“ and “Europe’s True Nature Exposed.”
