Now that the Spanish referendum of 20 February has passed (voters: 42%; favourable to the approval of the Constitutional Treaty: 76%), the process for the ratification of the European Constitution in the 25 member states continues. After the favourable vote of the parliaments of Lithuania, Slovenia and Hungary, and the “yes” of the Spanish people, the next country to vote on the matter is likely to be Holland, where a referendum has been called for 1st June, followed by that of Luxembourg on 10 July and of Denmark on 27 September. Other countries, however, could schedule their referendum on the Constitution before the summer of 2005: they include France. The other countries will vote between the autumn of this year and the first half of 2006: if all the EU states give their approval, the Constitution would finally come into force on 1st November 2006; if not, the European Council would be called to decide on the next moves. Meanwhile the results of an opinion poll in Poland have been published: they show that two thirds of Polish electors would be favourable to the Constitution. More precisely 64% of the sample replied positively to the question, 7% are against the Constitution, and 29% expressed no opinion at all. According to the survey conducted by the CBOS Institute, 66% of the Polish electorate would be willing to vote in a referendum on the new European Constitution, which could be coupled to increase voter turnout with the Presidential elections in October.
