EU Consitution on life-support as Dutch say NO!

Well as expected the results of the Dutch referendum on the new EU constitution was a resounding NO. In fact, something like 65% of Dutch voters rejected the document, an even higher percentage than voted NO in France last weekend. The pattern that is starting to emerge is that, while EU country parliaments (i.e. governments) are in favor of the document and vote YES, when the issue is presented to the people themselves, they say NO WAY!

Again as was the case in France, analysts are saying that the weakening European economic situation (rising cost of living, unemployment) was a factor in the Dutch vote. Some Dutch citizens have expressed unhappiness with the Euro and feel that the guilder was undervalued when Holland joined the Eurozone and switched to the common currency and this has driven prices up.

EU integration is nothing if not complicated. Interestingly, among the reasons given by some in Holland for the NO vote was concern that, an increase in governmental/legal control ceded to the EU parliament in Brussels might result in a rollback of Holland’s liberal policies on drugs, reproductive rights, and physician assisted euthanasia (legal under carefully controlled conditions in the Netherlands, illegal, for example, in Germany).

Fallout from the double NO includes an almost certain decision by Tony Blair’s government in the UK not to put the EU Constitution before the British people in a referendum vote. I should mention also that the German YES for die Verfassung für Europa was a parliamentary vote by the Bundestag, not a referendum put before the German people. Among the other concerns being expressed by the Dutch is a sense that EU expansion to 25 countries has happened too quickly and, particularly, expansion into eastern Europe has created sociological and economic problems for the countries of “old Europe”. There is also quite a bit of concern in Germany about Turkey’s desire to join the EU and, in fact, Angela Merkel and the CDU are on record as opposing Turkey’s application for EU membership.

On a purely selfish, Americanocentric level, the Euro hasn’t been this weak against the US dollar in a long time and was running at about 1.226 USD to the Euro last night. Incredible as it may seem, there is even some speculation in Europe and beyond on the fate of the Eurozone (as distinct from the EU as a political entity). Will the Eurozone countries switch back to their native currencies? Can they do this? Will we once again have to deal with German marks, French francs, Dutch guilders, Austrian schillings, Danish kroner and so on? Will the steadfast refusal of the Brits to abandon their beloved pound sterling and switch to the common currency turn out to have been prescient? Having lived in Europe before the Euro I can tell you that, while it was fun to collect all this exotic looking cool currency from all the countries I visited, it was also a major pain in the butt! I vote for the Euro! Quo vadis Europa--only time will tell!