US embassy cable - 05PARIS1300

UNCLAS PARIS 001300 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/WE, DRL/IL AND INR/EUC 
DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB 
DEPT OF COMMERCE FOR ITA 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, SOCI, PREL, FR 
SUBJECT: VERSAILLES CONGRESS APPROVES AMENDMENTS, EU 
REFERENDUM NEXT ON THE AGENDA 
 
REF: A. REF A: PARIS 278 
     B. REF B: PARIS 1264 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: President Chirac is expected to set a date 
for the referendum on the EU Constitution before the end of 
this week, following approval of EU-related amendments to the 
French Constitution at a specially convened Congress in 
Versailles yesterday, February 28.  Chirac's next -- and 
perhaps more difficult -- challenge will be to keep popular 
discontent from adversely affecting the referendum on the EU 
Constitution, expected to be held in May or June.  The French 
public has a history of using referendum votes "to send 
politicians a message," although polls suggest the proposed 
EU Constitution would be approved if the referendum were held 
today.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) At yesterday's joint session in Versailles, National 
Assembly deputies and senators voted to approve the several 
amendments (ref A) to the French Constitution to make its 
provisions consistent with those of the proposed EU 
Constitution.  The amendments passed by a 730-66 vote margin, 
with 96 abstentions.  Only the Communists voted against the 
amendments, and the abstentionists were mostly Socialists who 
oppose the EU Constitution but preferred not to vote against 
their party's pro-EU position.  President Chirac will now 
consult with political party leaders, before announcing later 
this week the date for the referendum.  The referendum is 
expected to be held sometime between mid-May and early June. 
French lawmakers also approved yesterday the so-called 
Environment Charter, a pet project of President Chirac, which 
enshrines environmental rights in the French constitution. 
The Charter passed by a 531 to 23 margin, with 111 
abstentions coming largely from the Socialists. 
 
3. (U) A February 25-26 poll sponsored by the center-left 
daily "Liberation," revealed relatively strong support for 
the EU Constitution, with 60 percent of those polled saying 
they planned to vote in favor of the constitution.  Forty 
percent were opposed.  Earlier in February, the same poll 
showed 61 percent supported the constitution, but this was 
down from a 69 percent peak in October of last year.  Another 
poll, conducted for the daily newspaper "Le Parisien" showed 
similar results, with 63 percent of those polled approving 
the EU Constitution, up from 60 percent in the last poll. 
Observers caution that the 1992 Maastricht Treaty enjoyed 
roughly the same level of support early in the campaign, only 
to be passed by a narrow 51-49 percent margin on referendum 
day.  The "Parisien" poll also revealed that 59 percent of 
voters will likely not participate on referendum day, up five 
points from the prior poll. 
 
4. (SBU) COMMENT: The French public has a history of using 
referendum votes as a means of expressing their discontent 
with the government.  The public continues to be preoccupied 
by the stubbornly high unemployment rate; figures released 
last week showed that unemployment in January reached the 
psychologically important 10 percent level.  The Gaymard 
affair (reftel B) -- with its housing extravagances at public 
expense and lies about personal wealth -- has reinforced the 
long-standing public perception that France's governing elite 
accords itself privileges unthinkable for ordinary people. 
Public sector unions, for their part, are unhappy about on 
going reforms of the pension, health care and education 
systems.  They also oppose government plans to loosen 35 hour 
work-week rules for private sector employees, and to 
partially privatize the utility giants EDF and GDF, as well 
as the nuclear conglomerate Areva.  France's pro-EU 
politicians fear that low overall voter turn-out on 
referendum day could give the "sanction voters" and anti-EU 
forces just enough of an edge to carry the day -- and toss an 
unexpected wrench in the works of EU integration.  END 
COMMENT. 
Leach