US embassy cable - 05PARIS278

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000278 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO FOR EUR/WE, DRL/IL AND INR/EUC 
DOL FOR ILAB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, SOCI, PREL, FR 
SUBJECT: JANUARY - JUNE 2005 -- CALENDAR TO 
REFERENDUM ON PROPOSED EU CONSTITUTION 
 
REF: PARIS 184 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
1.  On January 3 the Council of Ministers 
approved the text of a package of amendments to 
the French Constitution that the Parliament 
will be considering in the coming months. 
These amendments to the French Constitution 
(reftel) will harmonize it with the proposed EU 
Constitution.  The proposed EU Constitution 
will be put to French voters in a referendum 
next June.  The National Assembly will consider 
the required amendments to the French 
Constitution January 25 - 27.  The Senate will 
consider them in late February.  In March or 
early April both houses will meet in joint 
session for the final step, passage of the 
amendments by a three-fifths majority.  Once 
the French Constitution has been revised so 
that it is fully consistent with the proposed 
EU Constitution, only then will the date for 
the referendum be set (most likely Sunday, June 
5 or Sunday June 12).  President Chirac called 
for this referendum in his National Day address 
on July 14, 2004.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND 
---------- 
2.  On July 14, 2004 President Chirac called 
for a national referendum to ratify the 
proposed EU Constitution.  In France, the 
ratification process began on November 19, 2004 
when the Constitutional Council pointed out 
inconsistencies between the French Constitution 
and the proposed EU Constitution, and called 
for appropriate amendment of the French 
Constitution.  This is the fourth such 
amendment of the French Constitution pursuant 
to an EU treaty.  Prior iterations of this 
process took place in connection with the 
Maastricht Treaty in 1992, the Amsterdam Treaty 
in 1996 and the Treaty of Nice in 2000. 
 
JUSTICE MINISTRY PROPOSES AMENDMENTS 
------------------------------------ 
3.  A proposed text (reftel) of these 
amendments was drafted by the Ministry of 
Justice and, as is done with all draft laws, 
forwarded to the Council of State for review. 
The Council of State, acting in its capacity as 
the government's legal counsel, received the 
Justice Ministry's draft law on December 8, 
2004, and quickly judged it fully consistent 
with all applicable law and principle 
(specifically, the provisions of the current 
(1958) Constitution of the Fifth Republic and 
the preamble to the 1946 Constitution of the 
Fourth Republic and the 1789 Declaration of 
Rights). 
 
CONSIDERATION BY THE PARLIAMENT 
------------------------------- 
4.  The Law Committee of the National Assembly 
and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 
National Assembly will be considering and 
possibly amending the draft legislation January 
11 - 19.  The National Assembly is scheduled to 
debate and vote on the amended text January 25 
- 27.  The text approved by the Assembly will 
then be forwarded to the Senate, which should 
consider it in the latter part of February.  As 
with any other law, both the National Assembly 
and the Senate must pass it in identical 
versions. 
 
"CONGRESS" IN VERSAILLES 
------------------------ 
5.  An additional step is required for laws 
amending the Constitution: the National 
Assembly and Senate, meeting as a single body, 
must vote again on the Constitutional 
amendments and pass them by a three-fifths 
majority.  The "Congress" of the National 
Assembly and Senate for this purpose will take 
place in Versailles, most likely in late March 
or early April. 
 
SETTING THE DATE FOR THE REFERENDUM 
----------------------------------- 
6.  The most likely dates for the national 
referendum on the proposed EU Constitution are 
Sunday, June 5 or Sunday, June 12.  President 
Chirac, in the French president's traditional 
New Year's messages, stressed the importance to 
France and to continued European integration of 
adopting the Constitution, but specified only 
that the referendum would take place "before 
summer."  During the week of January 11 - 14, 
President Chirac met with the leaders of the 
major political parties to begin discussing how 
the referendum should be organized and how the 
question to be presented to voters in the 
referendum should be framed.  In addition, 
President Chirac will also lobby the party 
leaders, seeking their agreement to refrain 
from using the referendum on the proposed EU 
Constitution as a lightening rod for public 
feeling on unrelated questions, such as whether 
or not Turkey should enter the EU. 
 
VOTER INFORMATION FOR 41 MILLION 
-------------------------------- 
7.  Among the referendum "modalities" is the 
matter of voter documentation.  Every 
registered voter is to receive by mail a 
package that includes the full text of the 
proposed Constitution, along with background 
and explanatory materials.  As of the most 
recent national elections in France (the March 
2004 elections for members of the 24 Regional 
Councils), there were 40,973,784 registered 
voters.  The logistics of such a massive voter 
information campaign are part of the reason for 
the reluctance to lock in a date for the 
referendum.  Indeed, in July 2004, in the 
speech in which he called for the referendum, 
President Chirac indicated that the 
preparations required for the referendum could 
only be in place by "the second half of 2005." 
Moving the date up to June telescopes the time 
available for adequately preparing the 
logistical aspects of the referendum, and duly 
completing the constitutional amendment aspects 
of it.  It also reduces the time opponents of 
the proposed Constitution will have to try and 
sway public opinion on the question, and, in 
the highly centralized French system, provides 
the executive that much more leeway for shaping 
every detail of the consultation. 
 
LEACH