EU Supporters Relieved As French Socialists Vote Yes

EU supporters heaved a sigh of relief yesterday after the French Socialist party said 59% of its members had backed the union's constitution, significantly improving its chances of ratification in France's national referendum next year.

A no vote by France's 120,000 card-carrying Socialists in their hard-fought party ballot would have made it difficult for President Jacques Chirac to deliver a French yes. Rejection by France would have left Europe in crisis.

"This vote was no minor internal affair - it had the potential to put a serious spanner in the EU works," said Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the Danish president of the European Socialists. With the exception of the Belgian Socialist party, no European social democratic party shared France's misgivings about the treaty.

François Hollande, the French Socialist leader, said nearly 80% of party members had turned out to vote and the result was "a victory for Europe, for democracy and for the French Socialist party".

The Socialists' no camp, headed by the former prime minister Laurent Fabius, had argued that the treaty, seen as essential to the smooth running of the expanded 25-member union, failed to promote what it called a "social Europe" of workers' and welfare rights.

Mr Fabius conceded yesterday "with great regret" that he had lost his fight, although some of his supporters insisted that many party members did not really support the treaty but had voted yes because they feared the alternative would irreparably split the party.

On the radical left and sovereignist right of French politics, one of Mr Fabius's aides claimed that there were enough voters opposed to the constitution to make the outcome of the national referendum "anything but a foregone conclusion".

The bitter debate reflected an equally bitter power struggle among France's Socialist leaders, with Mr Fabius widely seen as exploiting the issue in a gamble to seize the party leadership from Mr Hollande and run for president in the 2007 elections.

The convincing margin with which the yes camp won the ballot likewise represents a key victory for Mr Hollande. He is a witty and well-liked party first secretary, despite having no government experience. Many observers noted yesterday, however, that Mr Hollande's victory in the party referendum came on top of sweeping wins in this year's regional, local and European elections.

"The result of this referendum amply rewards his political courage in calling it, and is a personal success for François Hollande that considerably reinforces his stature, his authority and his legitimacy," said one commentator, Pierre le Marc.

Richard Corbett, a British Labour MEP, said he was "pleased and relieved" at the French result. "It would have been embarrassing for everyone if the French Socialists had said no," he said, adding that the vote should help Tony Blair convince British voters to approve the treaty. "If everyone else is going ahead, then clearly that will help the yes argument."