By Bruno Waterfield - 17th October 2004
French leader Jacques Chirac is considering holding his country’s EU constitution referendum on May 8 2005.
The French president had previously set an EU vote rendez-vous in the second part of next year but other dates were floated when Elysee political fixers met to discuss the matter last Thursday.
Close advisers to Chirac, reports Le Monde, are backing a symbolic May 8 date - a calendar fixture which combines Europe Day and the anniversary of the end of World War II.
Chirac is under pressure to bring forward a referendum on the EU’s constitution as the issue becomes clouded with French hostility to Turkish EU membership.
Left leaning Socialists, members of Chirac's own ruling coalition and the far right may all seek to combine Ankara's EU entry with a constitution vote.
"The adversaries to Turkey's entry made such a hullabaloo, that nobody can be sure of the effect of this debate on the referendum on the adoption of the constitution," said a Chirac aide.
French left-wingers, including Socialist deputy leader Laurent Fabius, Communist MEP Francis Wurtz and former interior minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement will on Tuesday publish a text setting out reasons to oppose the EU constitution, reports Le Figaro.
“In the face of liberal globalisation and transnational companies, we need Europe. But the Europe that is being built today is not the Europe we need”, the manifesto will argue.
Click here to read the Press Review
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.