PM Jansa: French Referendum Failure No Disaster for Europe
Europe must take the message of the French referendum on the constitution seriously, yet this is no reason for a general uncertainty on the European political or business scene. This is how Slovenian PM Janez Jansa reacted to the French 'no' to the European constitution on Sunday evening.
The failure of the French referendum is no disaster for Europe, said Jansa in a press release. While European integration had witnessed problems before, Europe was not only able to deal with them, but they also made it stronger, more experienced and integrated, he stressed.
The referendum outcome has shown, according to Jansa, a gap between political elites that would like to see the constitution implemented and French citizens. The gap should be taken very seriously, as a challenge. Moreover the doubts and fears of EU citizens should be addressed, he added.
The French 'no' should not dissuade the EU from other priorities, stressed Jansa, and listed a consensus on the new financial perspective, the attainment of Lisbon Strategy goals and Europe's key foreign policy and security challenges. He believes the European Council would have to adopt an unambiguous statement to that effect.
The prime minister also urged for the process of constitution ratification to continue in the member states which have not yet ratified the treaty. He believes "a good-bye to the set ambitions would not send out the right signal at this moment".
If it turns out there is no chance to implement the constitution, Jansa believes an alternative scenario should be worked out to enable the EU a further successful development even without the constitution.
What matters most, according to Jansa, is Europe's political contents and its long-term orientation, he said. Here he mentioned European integration as a process which needs to be continued for Europe to open the door to all those candidates that meet membership criteria.
This constitutional treaty has no big prospects, Slovenian FM Dimitrij Rupel said on Sunday evening as he commented on the first unofficial results of a referendum in which the majority of French voters said 'no' to the European constitution.
According to Rupel, the prevalent manner of thinking in France, but not only in France, seems to be that it is better and easier to say 'no' rather than 'yes'.
He believes that as a result the EU project is likely to develop a bit slower, but most of all it will be hard to talk about enlargement. There is no plan B, yet we will live in the EU just as before, he told the press in Ljubljana.
Nevertheless, the minister does not believe the outcome to be the end of the world: "The EU has been faced with tests and warnings similar to the present French one before, and has always managed to deal with them."
Rupel also announced that as the EU presiding country in 2008, Slovenia will continue its policy of connecting a relevant group of like-minded countries, although its programmes will be slightly less ambitious. Nevertheless, we will promote European prospects for SE Europe, he stressed.
"All in all, Slovenian policy remains the same, even if France decided, at least for itself, differently, and to my personal belief, terribly wrong...," said Rupel, and added that he was rather shocked by the referendum outcome.
European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik has said the EU must pursue its plans despite the gravity of the French "no" message.
Potocnik, responding to the French referendum on Monday, said the EU must continue with the ratification of the constitutional treaty as almost a half of EU citizens had already backed the constitution.
The efforts to reach agreement on the 2007-2013 budget period and to revive the Lisbon process must also continue as well as enlargement and integration efforts, the Slovenian commissioner told in Brussels.
According to him, the current uncertainty largely depends on finding the right answers to the mentioned dilemmas.
"The member states have agreed that they want to revive economic growth by investing in research and development. They should put this into effect as soon and as consistently as possible," the Slovenian commissioner said.
He underscored the need to address long-term social and environmental challenges, and called for giving a convincing explanation of the benefits of the EU's enlargement and integration.
"It causes concern that we who live in Europe sometimes cannot see the significance and all opportunities of the EU, while these are obvious to our global partners and competitors. They admire our ability to overcome long-term disagreements and create a stable and balanced democratic environment. They see the united Europe as a powerful and potentially mighty partner."
President Janez Drnovsek said that while the EU would continue to function on the basis of current treaties, the "opportunity to make a new big step forward has been suspended".
The president also said that there was no going back in the European unification. "In today's world, only a united Europe can represent an equal partner to the United States and Asian powers."
Drnovsek believes that efforts for the EU constitution must continue and that at times, a momentary failure can contribute to a more thorough reflection. "France is the first that will have to reconsider and say what the message of its referendum is."
Moreover, the president believes that it would make sense to go on with ratification procedures in other countries only if there is a chance for France to take a new decision on the unchanged constitutional treaty after a while.
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