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France that was long the motor of Europe has decided against Europe. This decision is terrible not only for the development of Europe, its progress now blocked, but also and perhaps especially for what it reveals of French society, a society that has chosen the way of retrenchment and fear of the future. European construction means, and has meant for over fifty years, joining a great project, the gradual construction of a new entity that turns its back on the tragic legacy of the past and enables different and formerly hostile peoples to proceed along the path of reconciliation, peace and friendship. It means embarking on a long and difficult journey. But this construction is also a noble school of democracy that presupposes the search for compromise, involves delicate negotiations and, above all, appeals to the intelligence and sense of respect for and acceptance of others. Europe is a complex construction. To reject it means to let ourselves by ruled by instinct. It’s easier to say no than yes. The first instinct is fear. It’s easy to say no, refuse to take to the deep, and remain standing on the shoreline, under shelter: it’s harder to say yes to the future, run the risk of a different future, advance towards new horizons, accept others and live together in harmony with them. The campaign of the referendum in France released instincts that had hitherto been kept under control ever since the Second World War: fear, nationalism, xenophobia. For the last three months the partisans of the ‘no’ have proclaimed their attachment to the myth of the greatness of France; they have glorified France as the leader of Europe and of the world; France must “take the world by storm”, said one of them; she must “liberate” Europe from the yoke of liberalism, said another. The campaign unleashed a wave of xenophobia, if not of racism, against all foreigners: Dutch, Germans, Poles, Czechs, Turks, even the Chinese, in terms that one might have hoped were by now a thing of the past. The campaign focused on the threat posed to the French economy and to French employment by a hypothetical Polish plumber. Why a Polish plumber? Mystery of passion and sign of the irrational reactions to a new Europe! Of course, the negative vote of the French can also be explained as a rejection of the politics of the President of the French Republic and his government, but there is also a particularly alarming basic problem: the instinct of fear of others, of all others, an instinct of retrenchment that ended up by winning. Fundamentally the French do not accept that their country, which has a past as an imperialist nation, had become a country like any other, a middle-ranking power, whose “rank”, as some politicians say, is now comparable to that of Spain, Germany and Italy. The theme of greatness remains considerable in the public debate, but it is completely divorced from reality. So, instead of recognizing the truth of Europe and of the modern world, and building together a relationship of friendship and trust, preference is given to the dream of former greatness and the instinct of contempt for Europe, to the detriment of those who are not French. The French truly have a problem with those who are different. Another observation, and one fraught with serious consequences, is the fact that the victory of the ‘no’ is that of a strange and improbable coalition between all the parties and organizations that fundamentally reject the basic principles of parliamentary democracy: from the Trotskyites and a Communist Party that remains Stalinist, to the neo-fascists, through the Catholics of the Mauras persuasion. If a comparison is made between this vote and that of the presidential elections in 2002 with the advance of Le Pen in the run-off, then the whole of Europe can justifiably entertain some fears about the democratic future of France. Another reason for disquiet is the intellectual and moral weakness of the partisans of the ‘yes’ who showed themselves to be hesitant, cautious and timorous. Some papers, although favourable to the ‘yes’ camp, preferred not to enter into a campaign for a positive vote, maintaining a scrupulous balance between the two positions. John Paul II had galvanized the Christian people, in particular the peoples of Europe with his wake-up call: “Don’t be afraid ! Open, indeed, fling open wide the doors to Christ ! Open the frontiers of States, economic and political systems, the huge fields of culture, of civilization and of development to His salvific power”. John Paul II died on 2 April. Little time was needed for fear to invest politics anew. On 29 May, the majority of the French decided to stop on the road of Europe and close the frontiers.
