Europe in crisis after Dutch, French reject treaty: AMSTERDAM (Reuters)

[norml]

Europe in crisis after Dutch, French reject treaty
Wed Jun 1, 2005 06:40 PM ET


By Emma Thomasson and Paul Gallagher
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The European Union was in disarray on Thursday after the Netherlands followed France in resoundingly rejecting the bloc's new constitution, possibly stalling future expansion and disrupting decision making.

The rejection of the charter by two of the six countries that founded the bloc in the 1950s could deal a fatal blow to a treaty designed to make the EU run more smoothly following its enlargement from 15 to 25 states last year.

The votes also cast doubt on the EU's hopes for a stronger foreign policy and its plans to expand further to the western Balkans, Turkey and Ukraine, and raised questions about its appetite for economic reform amid mounting global competition.

The Dutch "No" vote of 61.6 percent was even more decisive than the nearly 55 percent scored by French opponents of the treaty. Turnout was also a strong 62.8 percent, well above the 39 percent in last year's European parliament election.




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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8671510

[SlipperySlope]

1. Maybe they learned from US

Maybe they took the US as an example of what happens if you centralize your government too much, and decided to try to hold onto national identity instead?

Hard to read the mind of voters.

[NJ Democrats]

2. I agree

While, that will certainly help the dollar against the euro.