> It's pretty clear that the mainstream spin used to interpret these
> results represents the NON as as xenophobic. Yet, from everything I'm
> reading, this was a resounding vote against neo-liberalism in Europe
> and the concomittant race to the bottom. I think everyone should be
> writing letters to the editors of their local papers, to make this point.
>
> If the lurkers from western Europe could give us further
> ammo/data/info, it would be appreciated.
Joanna, in the Netherlands, where the refendum will be held tomorrow (June 1), the main arguments against it are:
* At three hundred pages, it is far too ambitious and defines things such as military and economic policy that shouldn't be laid down in a constitution. A constitution should a succinct summary of universal principles.
* The constitution is seen in essence as a neoliberal project. The "free market" will have priority over everything else, such as social policy, employment, environment. Particularly controversial is the liberalization of services (cf, services in the internal market <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_on_services_in_the_internal_market>, the so-called "Bolkestein Directive"). This in particular has brought the unions up in arms.
* In terms of military policy, it establishes that European countries will beef up their military capabilities and that Europe can wage war, but it does not explicitly acknowledge the role of the UN in peacekeeping. There will be a single European voice in defense policy; it will be monolithic, and individual countries cannot opt out.
* The constitution does not improve the democratic process in Europe. Policy in Brussels is already seen as largely determined by the Council of Ministers (the European heads of state) and the undemocratically elected European Commssion. The European Parliament has too little influence. The constitution will not improve this situation but make it worse.
* It will give more power to the large European countries (Germany, France) at the cost of the smaller members, like the Netherlands.
I can't speak about France, but here, as you can seen, the charge of "xenophobia" is simply a canard.
Needless to say, I'll be voting "nee" tomorrow.
Colin