Remy de la Mauviniere / AP MAIS OUI! Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing

OUI     Wake Up! It's Time to Vote Yes
	VIEWPOINT: Don't let the naysayers fool you. This is the right constitution for Europe
	By VALÉRY GISCARD D'ESTAING

Posted Sunday, May 22, 2005; 10:39BST
I would be the first to admit that the text of the European constitution is better for insomnia than most sleeping pills sold in pharmacies. But in France, the document has woken people up to an important, and long overdue, debate. The text, which defines the Union's objectives, competencies and organization, is relatively short just 60 articles in all and designed for easy reading. Still, its detractors depict it as complex and incomprehensible, a dangerous, even threatening, document because it includes such common expressions as "free competition." Those who want France to reject the constitution in this weekend's referendum make it out to be an instrument of unchecked economic liberalism that encourages the off-shoring of jobs, imperils public services, and menaces social protection.

This line of debate helped swell the potential no vote, but because it's contrary to the actual contents of the constitution, that tide of opinion can turn. One need only read Article 3, for example, to see that the constitution's goal is to attain "a highly competitive, social market economy seeking full employment and social progress." When voters read that passage, they see the document's opponents have misled them and the yes vote strengthens.

The creation of the full-time post of President, instead of the current system of six-month rotating presidencies, will provide both a personal identity and media focus for the European Union. During their maximum five-year terms, E.U. presidents will have to map out the medium- and long-term future of Europe and not simply manage challenges as they arise. That will involve ensuring that policies and decisions taken are put into practice and not simply forgotten after their unveiling, as is often the case today. Similarly, the E.U. Foreign Affairs Minister, a post the constitution also creates, will present and defend common European policies. Of course, there are and will continue to be questions on which E.U. nations cannot agree. But history shows that the number of these exceptions has decreased and will continue to decrease over time. The constitution also mandates that the European Parliament become a legislative power in its own right, without weakening the legislative prerogatives of the national parliaments in member states. If the constitution is adopted, the Parliament must approve all proposed E.U. laws. The increased power of Parliament represents a response to the public demand for greater democratic transparency.

The reasons for opposing the constitution vary by country and even within countries. In nations like the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic, detractors denounce the text as an instrument of "socialist centralization." In France, though, opponents claim it seeks to institutionalize ferocious competition and the deregulation of markets. The truth lies between these two extremes. As it embraces a social market economy, the constitution also underlines the objectives of full employment, social progress and environmental protection thereby defining "a European social and economic model." That model respects the rules of healthy competition and the guiding role of markets, but also looks after those not active or present in markets, such as children and older people. It similarly anticipates the human consequences of certain economic developments, like unemployment, off-shoring and the requirement of social protection. This model is one that, with little variation, lies at the heart of the social and economic policies of all European governments, whether they are considered conservative or social-democratic. For all those reasons, even French voters who still find the constitution a sleep-inducing text would be well advised to avoid the nightmare scenario of rejecting it.

As chairman of the European Convention, Valéry Giscard
d’Estaing presided over the drafting of the European Union’s
proposed constitution

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