Prodi: French rejection of EU constitution will be 'fall of Europe'

A French rejection of the EU constitution will be a catastrophe, the former European Commission President Romano Prodi has warned.

Prodi made the dire prediction in an interview on Sunday with French newspaper Journal du Dimanche. 

The former Italian prime minister and EU commission chief said that if French voters reject the treaty on May 29, “there will be no more Europe”.

“The problem will not only be a catastrophe for France, but the fall of Europe.”

Prodi, who was Brussels chief during the conception of the constitution, said it would be hard to imagine a French ‘non’ vote.

“Everybody knows very well that there is no Europe without France, yet France does not realise the chance it has with Europe,” said Prodi.

The new constitution is not perfect he suggested, but it was a step in the right social and political direction.

“A step towards the model France has already defended and promoted.”

The weekend saw a flurry of activity on the French vote, after a distressing few weeks for the ‘oui’ camp and for French President Jacques Chirac, that saw the ‘non’ camp take the lead in the opinion polls.

Former French Prime Ministers Lionel Jospin and Raymond Barre both called on French voters to rally round the ‘oui’ camp over the weekend.

Jospin, the French Socialist’s 2007 presidential candidate, called on Left wing dissenters to tow the party line during a subdued rally to celebrate 100 years of French socialism at the weekend.

And another former French Prime Minister Raymond Barre, urged France not to make the constitution a scapegoat for France’s own social and economic problems.

The presidents of Austria, Finland, Portugal and Latvia also entered the fray, a month before the increasingly tense vote is due.

The leaders urged French voters to approve the EU constitution at a meeting in Helsinki over the weekend, arguing that French ratification was a European problem not just an internal French issue.

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