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I want you to pay attention closely to this story. Why? Because it holds very high significance if you put it in context:

Chirac to back Yes vote in EU referendum
By George Parker in Brussels,Peggy Hollinger in Paris andIan Bickerton in Amsterdam
Published: April 13 2005 21:53 | Last updated: April 13 2005 21:53

Jacques Chirac, French president, will on Thursday night publicly throw his weight behind the campaign to secure a Yes vote on the European Union constitution amid fears of an EU crisis within weeks if voters in France or the Netherlands reject the treaty in national referendums.

Mr Chirac’s decision to stake his personal authority on the outcome of the vote on May 29 after months in which he has let his ministers lead the debate comes amid mounting anxiety in Brussels that the EU would be thrown into disarray by a No vote on the constitution. With doubts also overshadowing a referendum vote days later in the Netherlands, another founding member, EU officials have begun discussing contingency plans for containing any crisis, with a scheduled June summit seen as the focus for attempts to chart a fresh way forward.

Mr Chirac will seek to turn the tide in France’s increasingly acrimonious debate over the constitution when he meets 80 young voters in a televised encounter.

However, with opinion polls suggesting disenchantment is growing, his appearance is far from certain to win over sceptical voters. The most disaffected are those from the left, who fear the constitution, seen as vital for the smooth working of an enlarged EU, threatens employment and France’s protective social regime.

Now, as you can plainly see, there’s some doubt about the mini-new-world-order forming in Europe and the much important EU constitution may or may not get ratified. Of course, they’re downplaying the huge deal this. They can’t come to a consensus on it, but it’s just a minor quibble.

Now ponder that in a few months as the Iraqis begin work on their own constitution. You know, that failure in the Middle East we’re always hearing about. We know how long it’s going to take them to agree on a constitution that’s equitable for all parties because they’ve never had any real experience with self-governance (or at least most of them haven’t) so this is going to be all new for them.

If Europe, a continent made up almost entirely of free nations, cannot arrive at a consensus on a constitution, and that’s not painted as a massive failure worthy of heads rolling, witness the difference it will be if such a thing happens in Iraq.

Coming up with a constitution is not an easy thing. Europe is learning it now. Something tells me Chirac and his friends will have forgotten that when the Iraqis start struggling through coming up with their own.

Source: The Financial Times

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  • Peter

    I actually agree with you on this one, expecting the Iraqi government to come up with a constitution overnight is not reasonable, it’s one of the most difficult tasks a government can undertake.

    However, comparing the EU’s situation to Iraq’s is pretty weak. The European Union is made up of countries that decided when they would join, Iraq is under full military occupation by a country that most of it’s people consider the great satan. Major cities in Iraq are still with out infrastructure, or any sort of reliable communications systems, so I actually think they should wait until they have some level of civility established before they worry about writing idealistic documents for everyone to marvel at.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com Vinny

    My only point of comparison is that you can bet the same countries struggling to ratify the EU constitution are probably going to be the first ones to point out the failure of the Iraqis to do the same.

  • Peter

    I actually agree with you on this one, expecting the Iraqi government to come up with a constitution overnight is not reasonable, it’s one of the most difficult tasks a government can undertake.

    However, comparing the EU’s situation to Iraq’s is pretty weak. The European Union is made up of countries that decided when they would join, Iraq is under full military occupation by a country that most of it’s people consider the great satan. Major cities in Iraq are still with out infrastructure, or any sort of reliable communications systems, so I actually think they should wait until they have some level of civility established before they worry about writing idealistic documents for everyone to marvel at.

  • http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/ Vinny

    My only point of comparison is that you can bet the same countries struggling to ratify the EU constitution are probably going to be the first ones to point out the failure of the Iraqis to do the same.