Re: <nettime> French vote for a citizen's Europe

[Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@transmediale.de>]

>Ronda Hauben: French citizens, however, by rejecting the current
>  > constitution proposal, gave notice to their government and to the EU that
>>  the task of building a social Europe, a Europe for the citizen, is a task
>>  that has to become a significant aspect of European construction.
>
>Florian Cramer: Consider also the flip-side of this. There is a 
>historical coincidence
>of Eastern European countries joining the EU and the first time that
>people in its Western core member states voice their resentment against
>the EU process.  French voters gave notice to their government that they
>resent [btw.  like the majority of people in the Western EU countries]
>the integration of Eastern Europe and, in the future, Turkey into the
>EU. The reasons include a "social Europe" without the low-wage
>competition of Eastern European workers both inside and outside their
>countries. The vote against the constitution would never have won
>without the populists and nationalists of the extreme left and right.

florian, there are of course many perspectives onto this referendum
decision, and some are not nice; but some of the people who have voted
'non' have voted neither against 'the 10', nor against turkey, nor _for_
a more nationalist approach to france; they have simply voted against a
European Union in the image of a neo-liberal super-state; they may be
for Europe, and simply against the Constitution which the political
establishment is presenting as a necessity without alternatives; they
may be for a europe that is different from the one constituted in the
Constitution. - this may in fact be the crux of the whole issue: if you
ask people what they want, they want so many different things, that a
popular vote about the future constitution of europe can actually lead
to a 'no', because they have other things in mind. (besides, i believe
that there are a number of heroic 'no's in the history of wo/mankind,
and one should not be afraid to use it when necessary. - personally, i
think that a situation should be created in which people will say 'yes'
to an EU constitution. if you cannot or don't want to do that, it is
wiser not to seek democratic legitimation - like in many other member
states, incl. germany.)

who is the sovereign?

greetings,
-a





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