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French vote ‘no’ to anti-worker EU constitution

Published May 31, 2005 10:46 PM

By a solid majority--55 percent to 45 percent--French voters rejected the proposed European constitution May 29. Most French politicians and the collective capitalist class in the 25 countries currently in the European Union were stunned.


Anti-EU constitution protest at the Bastille.

The victory for “no� gave hope to the European workers that they can begin to fight back against the systematic attack on their rights and living standards that has accelerated since the defeat of the Soviet Union in 1991. Concessions won during the Cold War period, when European bosses were in severe competition with the socialist system to the east, have been under assault since then. The new constitution that French voters rejected targets those remaining rights.

After this defeat at the polls, the EU is not going to disappear. However, a measure so significant that it was called a constitution--a measure designed to increase the EU's central authority over its members, to remove the benefits workers have won in decades of struggle against their bosses, to limit the protections small farmers have--now will not go into effect.

This "constitution" would also have reduced democratic rights in Europe. It would have strengthened the police's ability to act arbitrarily. It would have increased investment in Europe's joint military forces to allow greater European military intervention, especially in Africa, the Middle East and the former USSR.

The EU leadership announced May 30 that the approval process is going to continue, even if the Netherlands rejects the constitution in its June 1 vote. In the past, the EU has forced a re-vote in the countries that reject a treaty if almost all the member states have approved that treaty.

The "no" campaign in France was organized by a loose coalition of left-wing parties, including the French Communist Party (PCF), the League for Revolutionary Communism (LCR), Workers Struggle (LO), less formal groupings like the anti-globalization group Attac, most labor unions and union confederations, peasant unions under the influence of Jose Bove, and student groups.

A working-class victory

What made this vote a working-class victory for all Europe is that the left won in the face of a unanimously solid bloc made up of the French government, business leaders and media. This ruling-class force, in alliance with the governments of the other EU countries, tried to overwhelm the left's street meetings, leaflets, rallies and one-to-one conversations.

The media in particular played a vicious role. They pretended that the "no" campaign was based on an alliance between what the media call the "ultra" left and the fascist "ultra" right.

While it was true the racist National Front supported a “no� vote-–it doesn’t want mostly Moslem Turkey in the EU-–this turned out to be a minor factor in the outcome.

When it became clear that the "no" campaign was in the lead, French President Jacques Chirac started bringing in other heads of state. For example, on May 19 he held a news conference in the eastern French city of Nancy. There German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said, "We especially need France." Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said, "I wish for myself, for France and for all of us that this constitutional treaty will be adopted here on May 29."

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had come earlier in May. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlisconi also chipped in.

On the other side, workers’ and communist parties throughout Europe campaigned in solidarity with the French workers for a “no� vote.

The French voter turnout was nearly a record for a referendum. Just under 70 percent of the eligible voters went to the polls.

Over 60 percent of voters under 60 years old and 80 percent of wage workers said, "No."

The "no" vote was surprisingly strong in rural areas, which would sharply feel the loss of farm subsidies under the proposed constitution.

Working-class voters saw the new constitution as designed to strengthen and intensify their exploitation. As one machine shop worker told a reporter from French TV, "The minimum wage should be based on salaries in developed countries like France and Germany, not poor countries in Eastern Europe."

For example, French truckers are paid $2,600 a month (2000 euros) while Polish truckers driving the same routes are paid only $650 (500 euros).

The proposed constitution was what Europeans call "liberal." It would free companies to make workers toil any number of hours, weekends, give up vacations and so on. On average, the French work 300 hours per year less than workers in the United States.

The constitution had no special provision for women's rights, like the right to a divorce, contraception and abortion. It had no guaranteed access to health care, housing, jobs and so on.

It also had provisions establishing a European armed force. This would let Europe, under the leadership of French and German imperialists, apply military pressure along with its obvious economic and political strengths.

The Socialist Party, which can be described as a bunch of social democrats united for mainly electoral purposes, formally endorsed the "yes" campaign. But a number of SP confederations, for instance in Lille in northern France, and some major leaders, like Laurent Fabius, campaigned for the "no" vote. According to exit polls, about two-thirds of the SP voters supported "no."

The whole political scene in France is in turmoil. President Jacques Chirac has announced that he has fired the prime minister and will appoint as the new one the current interior minister; the interior ministry is equivalent to the department of justice in the United States.

The SP is probably going to split. The PCF and LCR might try to build a more durable alliance. Labor unions, which in France are usually closely connected to political parties, are reconfiguring themselves based on positions taken on the EU constitution.

"No" is expected to win in the Netherlands vote June 1 too. Poland, Portugal and Denmark have scheduled votes for later this year. While polls show the "yes" vote is ahead in all these countries, the left and the workers throughout Europe have been energized by the French vote and will now intensify the struggle against this reactionary "constitution."