Chirac Isolated As His Party Votes for Eu Referendum

The pressure on Jacques Chirac to hold a referendum on the European constitution was mounting yesterday after his party voted in favour of the poll.

The national executive of the centre-right UMP voted to campaign for a referendum in the run-up to the European elections on June 10-13 - although the head of the party, Mr Chirac's close ally Alain Juppé, made sure that the words "while respecting the constitutional prerogatives of the president" were included in the motion.

The ruling council's decision followed a typically forthright speech from Mr Chirac's ambitious rival on the opposite wing of the party, the finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

"Popular opinion must be consulted at every major stage of European integration," Mr Sarkozy told the executive on Sunday night. "I simply do not see how it can be possible to tell the French people that the European constitution is a major step, and then to just assume that it can be adopted by parliamentarians without making the effort to consult French public opinion directly."

Almost all of the French political class, from the Eurosceptic, pro-sovereignty Movement for France to the far-left Workers' Struggle, agrees with the Communist leader Marie-Georges Buffet that "democratically and morally" a referendum is "the only acceptable decision".

Opinion polls show that most French people want the chance to vote on the issue, and Tony Blair's decision to hold a referendum has increased the pressure.

The French president's office said yesterday that despite this, Mr Chirac felt it was "still too soon" to decide how France should ratify the future EU constitution.

"The president will make his decision when the time has come. It has not come yet," the Elysée palace said. Under the constitution, French presidents have a choice between two ratification methods: a national plebiscite, or a vote by both houses of parliament.

Mr Chirac has said he is not opposed to a referendum in principle. But he will be highly reluctant to call one if there is the slightest chance of losing it. France has, as one analyst noted yesterday, "a marked tendency not to vote in response to the question it is actually being asked".

The president has said he will make his mind up once the final text of the constitution has been agreed by EU leaders, probably a few days after the elections.

In the meantime, wary that a vote will result in the same humiliation that he and his unpopular government suffered in last month's regional elections, Mr Chirac seems determined to keep his options open.

One is for the assembly and senate to ratify the constitution at the same moment as the German parliament, in a highly symbolic - if not especially democratic - gesture of faith in the new Europe.

Some commentators said yesterday that the UMP's announcement mainly aimed to ensure it did not lose votes to rival rightwing parties in the European elections because of the referendum issue.

"But how can one explain to the French people that they will not be consulted on a constitution presented to them as a vital institutional advance?" asked Le Figaro. "Because of the risk of a no vote? It is a real risk. But without the people, Europe is heading for guaranteed failure."