CHIRAC'S PRO EU CONSTITUTION TV SHOW WAS A DUD

Desperate to avoid a humiliating personal and national defeat, Chirac went on TV - in an American style Town-meeting - to promote a "OUI" vote in the upcoming referendum on the EU constitution; (more in a previous post HERE).

From the NYTIMES:

Mr. Chirac's bold move - his first major effort on behalf of the constitution - occurred amid anxiety that next month's referendum will not pass. Opinion polls show increasing opposition to the document, led by many people who worry that a more powerful union will threaten French social benefits and lead to even higher unemployment, now riding at a five-year high of slightly more than 10 percent. [...]

According to a poll conducted for L'Express this week, 53 percent of French voters intended to vote no on the constitution compared to 47 percent who planned to vote yes. A poll for Le Figaro and for Europe 1 radio produced similar results. [...] Many commentators deplored what they said was a blurring of the line between staged propaganda and informed debate.

There was ample skepticism expressed by the audience. From the FT:

Asked by one voter why the unemployment rate was so much lower in the UK than in France, Mr Chirac replied that Britain had social rules that would not be "acceptable to us". Scrambling to reassert his authority, which has been badly damaged by the faltering start to the Yes campaign, the president said that France should be proud of its contribution to Europe and the spreading of civilised values around the world.

However, Mr Chirac's greatest political rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, the populist president of the ruling UMP party, yesterday contradicted the president's upbeat views by saying that the "French social model" was failing the people. In a speech in southern France, Mr Sarkozy said that with a 10 per cent unemployment rate France should stop saying its system worked better than that of others. "In 20 years both the left and the right have doubled the credits to combat unemployment but we have not produced one fewer unemployed person," he said.

People instinctively understand that creating and enabling another corrupt bureaucracy in Brussels will do NOTHING to improve their lives - like by lowering unemployment. That's why the polls have shown for week aftyer week for months now that 53% of France is adamantly opposed to the EU constitution.

Sarkozy (who supports the constitution) at least understands that France's socialist policies just simply do not work, and that they must be replaced with ones that do work, policies like those in the UK and the USA. If Sarkozy wins the next French presidential election in 2007 (and if this is followed by a rejection of the Socialist/Green coalition in Germany and of Zapatero's socialists in Spain), then there is real hope for continental Europe; (if it lasts that long under the onslaught of Islam, bad demographics, a collpasing welfare state, a failed constitution and the resulting weakened Euro. Between now and then the NEW POPE could have a major positive effect on morale in Western Europe - that is: IF the CofC picks the right one).

UPDATES:

BBC:

Most French newspapers give President Jacques Chirac poor marks for his performance in Thursday's live TV debate aimed at producing a Yes vote in the EU constitution referendum. Faced with an audience in which the No camp seemed to be in the majority, the head of state often struggled to get his pro-European case across, throughout a programme which was often confused," says the leading conservative daily Le Figaro. Le Parisien is even less impressed, calling it a "complicated, chaotic and - all things considered - a very disappointing broadcast." [...] The French president stressed that the constitution sets a goal of full employment, and he told his audience that he opposed an "Anglo-Saxon, Atlanticist Europe".

CNN IN'T'L:

French media has dismissed as unconvincing President Jacques Chirac's efforts to persuade his country to vote for the EU constitution in an upcoming referendum. [...] "In front of an audience in which those favoring the 'No' seemed to be in the majority, the head of state often struggled to make heard his pro-European plea during a muddled broadcast," the conservative Le Figaro wrote on its front page. "Chirac: difficulty reassuring," LCI television said, while the left-leaning Liberation newspapers said Chirac appeared "strained, almost clenched-up" in the meeting. Laurent Fabius, a former Socialist prime minister and leading "no" campaigner accused Chirac of trying to scare voters into backing the charter. "I found Mr. Chirac, like the constitution, long and not very convincing," he told RTL radio. "I was very struck to see Mr. Chirac saying on the one hand, 'don't be afraid', but his main argument was to try to create fear."

The failure of the EU constitution has MAJOR IMPLICATIONS - it will likely cause a precipitous drop in the Euro and put brakes on the momentum that has built up for a SOCIALIST-STYLE EU bureaucracy - both painful but necessary things. MORE HERE. The EU CONSTITUTION NEEDS to be STALLED until Germany and France and Spain - Old Europe - wean themselves off of socialism at home. Then and only then can an EU be effective. Old Europe may become much less socialist after the next round of elections, when socialists Zapatero, Schroeder get tossed ot of office and when Sarkozy takes over from Chirac in 2007.

UPDATE - AFP(YAHOO): Chirac's TV show BACKFIRES:

PARIS (AFP) - Two new opinion polls indicated opposition in France to the European constitution has increased since an impassioned appeal by President Jacques Chirac to back the landmark treaty in a May referendum. The surveys were carried out the day after Chirac's high-stakes two-hour live television appearance late Thursday aimed at jumpstarting the flailing 'yes' campaign. One poll conducted by the CSA institute and which is to appear in Saturday's edition of Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui newspaper indicated 56 percent would vote 'no' in the May 29 referendum, while 44 percent would back the constitution. The figures compare to an earlier CSA poll, taken April 12 and 13, which showed 55 percent opposed the treaty and 45 were in favour. A second poll, released late Friday on the Internet site of Paris Match magazine, gave the 'nos' 56 percent and the 'yes' vote 44 percent. In an earlier survey for Paris Match, the IFOP polling institute had figures of 53 and 47 percent respectively.

Chirac is an ass. He supported Saddam, supports Iran's nuke porgram and supports the EU constitution. Chirac is an ass.