Translated material
Euthanasia for the European Constitution
The Dutch authorities failed to promote integration
The Dutch expressed their attitude towards the EU constitution at a national referendum yesterday. The official results of the survey will be announced on June 6. The preliminary results of the first national referendum in the country's history will be known early this morning. But it was clear in advance that the Dutch went to the polls to say “No!” to the European Constitution.Three days before the Dutch, the French had already done this. 55% of voters in France opposed the ratification of the fundamental law of United Europe. The Dutch were ready to cover this figure. According to a poll conducted on May 30 by the Netherlands Institute of Public Opinion, 58% of Dutch people planned to vote against the EU constitution. According to other surveys, this figure exceeded 60%.
Yesterday's referendum is advisory in nature and parliamentary approval will be required to recognize its results. But the majority of its member parties have already stated that they will agree with the will of the people if the voter turnout is at least 30%. It will probably be bigger. On the eve of the referendum, almost 80% of Dutch respondents said they intended to take part in it.
“Voting 'no' is not in the interests of the Netherlands. If you want the economy to develop, you must vote “yes,” Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende implored the Dutch. However, the activities of his government are supported by only 19% of the inhabitants of the Land of Tulips. As Vladimir Gutnik, head of the Center for European Studies at IMEMO RAS, told Vremya Novostei yesterday, it was dissatisfaction with the policies of national governments that became the main reason for the protest vote of the French and Dutch, who refused to approve the European Constitution. In addition, the expert believes, “the propaganda work in favor of the European Constitution was organized extremely poorly - everyone expected that the Europeans, overwhelmed by the euphoria of unification, would vote for it anyway.”
The Netherlands, like France, is a founding country of the EU. It is the largest contributor to the EU budget per capita. But after the transition from the national currency guilder to the euro, prices in the country increased. The Dutch are also unhappy with the too rapid expansion of the European Union. Last year, ten states joined the community, mostly Eastern European countries with underdeveloped economies. The Dutch are concerned about the increase in migration and the possibility of Turkey joining the European Union.
“In addition, Europeans are people with a developed democratic instinct, and they perceive any centralization or vertical power with great fear; they are afraid of strengthening the European bureaucracy,” emphasizes Vladimir Gutnik. Too many powers in the new EU are transferred to a single center, which is painful for the residents of the Netherlands - after all, “Brussels for them is not so much the center of the EU as the capital of an equally small state that will suddenly make decisions for them.” In particular, he will be able to intervene in the ultra-liberal policy of Holland, which has allowed soft drugs, homosexual marriage, and euthanasia.
Director of the Institute for Strategic Assessments Sergei Oznobishchev, in a conversation with a Vremya Novostey correspondent, also noted that “old” Europe is irritated by the lackey servility of the new members of the European Union to Washington.” However, as the expert emphasized, “the decline of the European Union will not happen; Brussels, as before, will successfully find new organizational solutions to overcome the difficulties that have arisen.”
The European Constitution has already been ratified by nine EU countries out of 25. Following the Netherlands, popular polls are planned in Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Great Britain, the Czech Republic and Poland. Most of these countries will apparently suspend referendums. Poland intends to speak out in any case to show the world its European insides. “After the referendums in Europe, the collapse of the European Union will not happen,” Vladimir Gutnik is convinced. In his opinion, by the fall a decision on the constitution will be made in Brussels, and perhaps changes will be made to the draft. “My forecast: within the next three to four years, the EU constitution will still be adopted,” the expert concluded.