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Future of European Union in Question

The recent rejection by France and the Netherlands regarding the ratification of the European Union’s Constitution has caused a great deal of uncertainty as to the future course Europe will take. The European Union, or EU, is a coalition of member countries representing over 450 million citizens that would share the same currency, the Euro, and collectively have a greater say in trade and world issues than they would as individual smaller countries, potentially rivaling the United States in some areas.

[above] The Euro was introduced as the currency of the European Union in January 1st, 2002. The face of the coins are the same for all member countries. However, each country has a unique design for the back of coins from that country, such as the 1 Euro coin from Deutschland (Germany) displayed above second from the left.

The EU is considered to have actually began back on May 9th, 1950, when French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman gave a speech calling for a unified Europe so that nothing like World War II would ever happen again. That day is still celebrated as "Europe Day". Over time, additional European countries became member states in a coalition whose treaties centered primarily around trade and the environment.

However, since the EU’s Constitutional treaty needed the unanimous vote of all 25 member nations, the rejection of the Constitution by the people of France and the Netherlands has thrown the near future of the Union into question.

French opponents to the ratification of the Constitution argued that it would strip France of its sovereignty and generous social system, as well as trigger an influx of cheap labor from abroad.

France’s rejection was particularly embarrassing to French President Jacques Chirac, who had vigorously campaigned for the people to vote ‘oui’ (French for ‘yes’) to the proposed EU Constitution referendum, and instead voted “non” (‘no’).

“It is your sovereign decision, and I take note,” Chirac said. “Make no mistake, France's decision inevitably creates a difficult context for the defense of our interests in Europe.”

Britain’s Tony Blair had this take on the French rejection of the Constitution:

“Underneath all this there is a more profound question, which is about the future of Europe and, in particular, the future of the European economy and how we deal with the modern questions of globalization and technological change,” Mr. Blair said.

After the French rejected the Constitution, the Dutch opposition to the Constitution grew, and they too voted against ratifying the treaty.

In conceding defeat, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said “The Dutch voters have a clear and uncomplimentary solution, and we will have to respect the voters' choice,” he told reporters. “No means no, and this is the choice of the people.”

“This is a critical moment in Europe's history,” said Jean-Luc Dehaene, a former Belgian prime minister and one of the architects of the constitution, in a telephone interview. “It is clear that the French ‘no’ brings Europe to a kind of standstill.” The French, he said, “are completely without orientation and in a period of complete uncertainty.”

Other supporters of EU Constitution remained optimistic.

“I am not a doctor, but the treaty is not dead,” said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, a presidency which rotates among its members. “This ratification process will continue”

A unified Europe would have been a large enough trading block to be a world influence, able to compete in trade with the United States, and the emerging Asian markets. It would also have had a larger voice in world affairs, like a superpower. It remains to be seen how the defeat of what was to be the Union’s first Constitution will affect Europe in the long run.

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