RE: The French 'NO'

European papers outside France have almost never reported on the intensity and the depth of the debate on the European Constitution in France. Now the French population is the best informed about the nature and the content of that - now rejected - constituion. Compare the situation in France with that of Spain. Also in the latter country there was a referendum in which a minority (less than 50%) of voters participated and voted more than 2/3 in favor of the constitution. However every public opinion poll showed that (a) a minority of voters would participate- a correct forcast, (b) that those who would vote would do so overwhelmingly in favor of the constitution - also a correct forcast, (b) that no one really knew anything about the content of the constitution and did not care much about it. Hence it is legitimate to conclude that the minority of Spanish actual voters approved of the consitituion out of inertia. In the end in Spain the European constitution obtained aound 30% of the total eligible voters. I
n France the particpation rate was 70% of the electorate. What the rest of the Europeen press did not point and indeed carefully avoided was the depth of the discussion where every single article of the constitution was dissected and this is what caught the OUI front on the wrong foot. A leading group in the organization of the NON vote was the Fondation Copernic of left of center orientation containing many economists who also have worked with the Banque de France and with the OFCE, it contains also a large number of constitutionalists. And what these people pointed out was undeniable and it was not, indeed, denied by the YES front which actually took a flight of fancy and instead of talking to the content of the constitution shifted the aguments to grand geopolitics as a way to blackmail the population, indeed exactly with the same arugments as Mr Hermann which simply do not address the content of the issue. On the basis of those expost (geopolitical) criteria any constitution, put together by EU, has be
a
ccepted thereby making the democratic procedure of acceptance or rejection null and void. To its credit the electronic version of Le monde - which sided for OUI - ran day after day a presentation of the articles of the Constitution and a debate on them so that by May 20th the whole content had been sifted through.
To know more:
http://www.fondation-copernic.org/
joseph halevi

The two main books are:

Europe : une alternative
Véronique Champeil-Desplats, Jean-François Faugeras, Michel Husson, Sébastien Leplaideur, Julien Lusson, Roger Martelli, Bernard Pignerol, Jérôme Porta, Michel Rousseau, Yves Salesse, Claude Taleb, Louis Weber, Francis Wurtz.

Avec la collaboration de Christian Boisgontier et Pierre Khalfa.

Cette note s'attache à définir ce que pourraient être de nouvelles fondations de l'Europe en rupture avec l'actuelle construction néolibérale et antidémocratique.

De nouvelles fondations dans lesquelles les peuples pourraient se reconnaître.

Cette note est tournée vers des propositions qui partent d'une idée essentielle : il ne doit pas y avoir de réforme institutionnelle séparée d'une modification de l'orientation sur le fond.

Les peuples ne s'inscriront pas dans un projet centré sur le marché, la concurrence généralisée. L'Europe doit au contraire se construire sur la solidarité, la lutte contre le chômage, l'amélioration des règles sociales, le développement des services publics, la protection de l'environnement, d'autres relations avec les pays du Sud.

Pour autant, on ne peut ignorer les questions de fonctionnement institutionnel. Comment se construira une citoyenneté européenne ? Quelle relation avec Etats-Nations ? Voilà des questions à traiter avant d'aborder les orientations en matière d'institutions.

Table des matières

Introduction

Partie 1 : Une Europe libérale

Chapitre 1. Coup d'oeil dans le rétroviseur.

Chapitre 2. Le contrainte néolibérale

Chapitre 3. La démocratie mise à mal.

Partie 2 : Une autre Europe est possible

Chapitre 4. Une Europe sociale.

Chapitre 5. Un nouveau modèle de développement.

Partie 3 : Des institutions pour L'Europe.

Chapitre 6. Des l'Europe et des Etats

Chapitre 7. Définir un système institutionnel démocratique.

Chapitre 8. Un nouvel élan politique pour l'Europe.

Conclusion

Annexe : La Convention, une copie à revoir.

Europe : une alternative

Ed. Syllepse, 7 euros.

En vente en librairie et auprès de la Fondation Copernic.

Commander directement auprès de la Fondation
 

Manifeste pour une autre Europe
de Yves Salesse
Langue : Français Éditeur : Le Félin (20 octobre 2003)
Collection : Questions d'époque
Format : Broché - 100 pages
ISBN : 286645524X
-----Original Message-----
From: she_forum-bounces_at_itk.ntnu.no [mailto:she_forum-bounces_at_itk.ntnu.no] On Behalf Of arturo hermann
Sent: Monday, 30 May 2005 7:50 PM
To: she_forum_at_itk.ntnu.no; trond andresen
Subject: Re: [HE] The French 'NO'

Dear colleagues, to be honest I am not content with the result, though recognizing the many limitations of the EU Constitution project. The point is that the French 'No' would neither reduce the great power of corporations nor abolish capitalistic markets; rather, it would probably increase their power, in the absence of adequate supranational institutions aimed at limiting and regulating the action of these bodies. Certainly, European Union was also constructed to fit the interests of corporations, but, I would hope, also to meet other exigencies. I think of a supranational institution like EU essential for addressing problems that are in their nature supranational; the political action of the Eu cannot be conservative 'per se', as it is a reflex of the politics of the member countries, so in order to help construct a left-wing Eu we should first of all construct a left-wing politics, internationally oriented, across member countries. Please do not forget what happened in Europe in the thirties when interna
tional relations broke down.

Un "salutone" from Italy
Arturo Hermann

----- Original Message --

---
From: "trond andresen" <trond.andresen_at_itk.ntnu.no>
To: <she_forum_at_itk.ntnu.no>
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 9:46 AM
Subject: RE: [HE] The French 'NO'
> Joseph Halevi kindly reminded me that there are three, not two, 
> countries in Western Europe outside the EU.
>
> Ooops and sorry. Maybe I unconsciously think of Iceland as part of
> Norway...   ;-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Trond Andresen
>
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