FOLLOWING THE EUROPEAN UNION

george, You may be the winner in your won eyes about "threshhold of indignation," but that's it, buddy.

Dutch No looks irreversible

23.05.2005 - 06:18 CET | By Mark Beunderman

EUOBSERVER / AMSTERDAM - Less than two weeks before the Dutch referendum on the EU Constitution, pollsters see a rejection of the treaty as irreversible, with a row over the Eurovision song contest apparently boosting the "no" camp.

Over the weekend, three new polls indicated a huge leap forward made by the "no" campaign in the run-up to the referendum on 1 June.

"Eastern European fake show"

On top of this, further media rows put the "yes" camp on the defensive over the weekend - with one row focusing on the unusual topic of the Eurovision song contest.

Following the elimination of the Dutch contender Glennis Grace in the semi-final of the contest, Dutch popular media showed their dissatisfaction by blaming the lost race on "Eastern European" countries favoring each other.

The Netherlands' largest newspaper, De Telegraaf, on Saturday (21 May) ran its main front-page story quoting some of the "thousands" of angry reactions by readers.

The headline of the story quotes one reaction, saying that the Netherlands should "never participate again in this Eastern European fake show".

According to the newspaper, "many compatriots" used the occasion of the song festival "to speak out against European unification and the future the EU constitution".

"The elimination of the Netherlands shows again who will have the largest say in Europe in the future", de Telegraaf quoted one reader as saying.

According to the pollster Maurice de Hond, a large majority of the Dutch interpret the Eurovision song contest in a similar political way. In a press release he stated:

"Seventy one percent think that the fact that substantially more Eastern European than Western European countries have reached the [Eurovision] final, is an example of how the power within the EU has shifted to the East of Europe".

World War II ad row

Another row dominating the media over the weekend concerns a television ad by the liberal VVD Member of the European Parliament, Jules Maaten, which was withdrawn just before broadcasting.

The ad showed images of the Holocaust, the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia in 1995, and the Madrid train bombings of March 11 2004, highlighting the necessity of a "future of peace, security and prosperity" with "one European constitution".

The VVD leadership blocked the airing of the commercial, but Dutch public television obtained the spot and broadcast it anyway.

The "no" camp blamed Mr Maaten for suggesting that a "no" to the constitution would result in a return to war and terror.

Before the spot was vetoed by his party, Mr Maaten had said "with this [the ad] we would like to show that this is not just about anything. Europe was established not just for fun, but in order to bring peace, prosperity and security".

The row fits into a larger pattern of opponents of the constitution hitting hard at the "yes" camp's allegedly inappropriate use of World War II and the Balkan wars as an argument in favour of the EU constitution.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende was attacked for explicitly referring to the EU constitution during a commemoration of World War II victims alongside US president Bush on 8 May.

FRENCH EU VOTE: Turnout reaches 66.24 pct at 7.00 pm
05.29.2005, 03:17 PM

PARIS (AFX) - Nearly two out of three French voters had turned out by 7.00 pm to cast their ballots in the referendum on the EU constitution, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said 66.24 pct of the country's 42 mln eligible voters had already participated in Sunday's referendum, with polls due to close in most of the country at 8.00 pm, and at 10.00 pm in Paris and Lyon.

At midday Sunday, voter turnout stood at 25.08 pct.

In 1992, when France voted by a slim margin to approve the Maastricht treaty that created the common European currency, final voter turnout was 69.7 pct.

The CSA polling institute estimated that final turnout would reach 75 pct, while Ipsos predicted that final participation would be at least 76 pct.

http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2005/05/29/afx2063244.html

This aspect of the European scene interests me. For how long will Europe be able to sustain its current social & economic policies without some form of collapse or upheval? In my view the lack of sufficient investment and productivity growth, the demographic decline already built in to the near term future, the inflexability of labor markets and social welfare systems, combined with the growing competitiveness of the world economy all spell a rough road ahead for Europe if it does not begin to confront these challenges.

I have to wonder if we could do as well if we voted on a Sunday instead of Tuesdays.

Well, could be a difference in the way the votes are calculated, then. Here, we count all valid votes, divided with the number of people of voting age (including illegal immigrants).