Let the peoples speak” “

Referendum, parliamentary ratification, legislative amendment: there are various ways in which the Twenty-Five countries of the EU will ratify, at different times, the European Constitution signed in Rome on 29 October. The approval of the Constitution, if it is a foregone conclusion in some countries, is a source of serious concern to national governments in others. The various positions are summarised below. UNITED KINGDOM. Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that the approval of the European Constitutional Treaty will take place through a referendum, as expressly requested by the Conservative Party, in opposition, and by some sections of the Labour Party that have formed a bloc called “Labour against the Super State”. It should not be forgotten that at the last European elections, the newly founded and firmly anti-European United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) obtained 16% of the vote. If we add that, according to a recent public opinion poll published by the Sunday Times, 49% of the British are contrary (23% in favour) to the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty, it seems clear that the British are the most euro-sceptical in the Old Continent. FRANCE. In France, too, there will be a referendum for the approval of the Constitution. The decision to hold one was announced by President Chirac himself, and has met with widespread support both among the ruling majority and among the opposition. The former head of state and former chairman of the Convention for the Future of Europe Valery Giscard d’Estaing had hailed it as “a wise and natural decision, in conformity with French political culture, which has always adopted Constitutions through referendums”. If the majority is in favour of voting ‘yes’ for the Constitution, a firm ‘no’ is being expressed by the Communist Party and the National Front of Jean Marie Le Pen. How the Socialists will vote remains uncertain. SPAIN. The month of the popular consultation in Spain has already been fixed: February 2005. Spanish citizens will then be asked to answer the question: “Do you approve of the Treaty by which a Constitution for the European Union is established?”. However, the main enemy of the referendum is abstention. The two major Spanish parties, the PSOE and the PPE, have both expressed support for a ‘yes’ vote; the United Left is opposed. BELGIUM. Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt has expressed himself in favour of a referendum on the European Constitution. The vote, according to the intentions of the government, ought to take place within 50 days of the signing of the Treaty. In the view of the Christian Democrat Jean-Luc Dehaene, former Prime Minister and former vice-chairman of the Convention for the Future of Europe, on the other hand, “the referendum is not the greatest expression of democracy; nine electors out of ten will vote without having read the Constitution”. CZECH REPUBLIC. In the former East-bloc country, led by Stanislav Gross, at the head of a centre-left government, the referendum will be held in conjunction with the legislative elections in June 2006. Euro-scepticism and the high rate of abstention at the last European elections are the government’s main fears. PORTUGAL. The referendum on the Constitution will be held in April 2005, as reported by Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes, who has taken the place of José Manuel Durao Barroso, Romano Prodi’s successor as head of the European Commission. NETHERLANDS. The Dutch intention is apparently to call a ballot of the electorate before the country’s six months’ presidency of the European Council expires in December 2004. Referendums have also been called in Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta. GERMANY. Current legislation does not permit a referendum, but an amendment of the law by the ruling coalition is currently being examined and, if passed, could enable the Germans to vote on the EU Treaty. According to some public opinion polls, 77% of Germans are in favour of a referendum on the EU Constitution. SLOVAKIA. A collection of signatures is in progress, promoted by the right, traditionally euro-sceptic, calling for the holding of a referendum: a minimum 350,000 signatures are needed. In Slovakia only one referendum has so far had a successful outcome: the one on EU membership. Austria, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Hungary are other potential countries in which referendums could be called. SLOVENIA. The ratification of the Constitution by a referendum seems unlikely. Far more probable seems ratification in Parliament, where a three-fifths majority would be needed. Public opinion is favourable to the Constitution. ITALY. Italy, which hosted the signing of the Constitution, has the firm intention of going down to history as the first country to ratify the European Constitution. To this end recourse will be had to parliamentary ratification before the end of this year. According to government sources, a special bill has already been prepared, which ought to be approved at the first Council of Ministers after 29 October. The same parliamentary procedure chosen by Italy is likely to be adopted also by Cyprus, Greece and Estonia. Schools: European anti-smoking project Smoke free class competition (SFC) is the project for the prevention of the smoking of cigarettes in schools, in part financed by the European Commission as part of the programme “Europe against Cancer”, in collaboration with the European Network on Young People and Tobacco. The objective is to prevent or delay the forming of the smoking habit among young people and eliminate or reduce the consumption of cigarettes among pupils that have already experimented with smoking, to ensure they do not become habitual smokers. The idea was born in Finland in 1989; since then hundreds of classes and thousands of pupils have taken part in the project. The assessments conducted suggest that this competition does contribute to the prevention of tobacco smoking in schools. In Italy the project has been active since 1997-98. It is coordinated by the Zancan Foundation in Padua. All second and third classes of lower secondary and all first classes of upper secondary schools may participate in it. “To obtain results, we need to work at the level of prevention – says Monsignor Giuseppe Pasini, president of the Zancan Foundation -. Alliances need to be created that may help adolescents to develop the conviction that it is not on cigarettes, but on other values, that their importance is based”. To participate, classes are asked to sign a “Class Contract” in which each pupil pledges not to smoke for a period of six months, from November 2004 to April 2005. This contract must then be sent to the local referee no later than 30 November 2004. During the period of the competition, discussions will be held in classrooms each week on personal smoking habits and on issues connected with smoking. It’s also necessary to compile a form monitoring progress and send it by fax to the regional referee by the 5th of each month. For further information about the competition, consult the website: fz@fondazionezancan.it.