Chirac Appeals for Eu Yes Vote

Jacques Chirac launched his campaign to convince a recalcitrant French public to vote yes to the EU constitution last night, telling a hand-picked audience of 83 young people in a live TV debate that they had nothing to fear from the treaty.

"I don't understand this fear and this pessimism, and it pains me," the French president said at the end of a two-hour question-and-answer session that revealed how little the audience understood of the constitution's purpose, and how much they were afraid for the country's future.

"This constitution is essential if Europe is to be organised, humane and strong in a changing world, if it is to stop the drift towards economic ultra-liberalism," he said.

With 14 successive polls suggesting French voters will vote no in a referendum on May 29, Mr Chirac's long-awaited entrance into the fray is seen as crucial. Popular rejection in France would in effect leave the text dead in the water.

Fielding questions ranging from the constitution's provisions for recycling (none) to its impact on the health service (zero), Mr Chirac said the treaty was necessary for Europe to survive economically, and the best way for France to defend its interests.

"If France votes no it will simply cease to exist, for some time to come, at the heart of the union," he said. "How, for example, will we be able to defend the common agricultural policy, which is worth €10.5bn [£7.1bn] to French farmers? We won't be able to."

Many French opponents claim the text, drafted by a former French president, Valéry Giscard-d'Estaing, rides roughshod over French social principles.

Others simply see the referendum as a risk-free way of punishing the centre-right government for rising joblessness and unpopular economic reforms.

The president admitted that France "is not very good at referendums", tending to turn them into plebiscites on the government of the day.