Le Monde Diplomatique: The French Presidential candidates and the EU - by Bernard Cassen

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The French Presidential candidates and the EU - by Bernard Cassen

It took more than a year and a prolonged period of complaining in public and in private about the French electorate’s decision in the European referendum of May 2005. But now, finally, the three leading candidates in the presidential election — François Bayrou (UDF), Ségolène Royal (PS) and Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP) — have concluded that the 55% of voters who said “no” to the Constitutional Treaty, which would have established a constitution for Europe (TCE), showed wisdom and foresight.

There is a general consensus among the European elite that the people should be kept out of the European decision-making process, and that the parliamentary route is therefore preferable to a referendum.