eurealist.co.uk

On Sunday 200,000 voters in Luxembourg, will give their answer to the EU Constitution. In Luxembourg voting is compulsory, and opinion polls are banned for the last month of campaigning so according to the Telegraph the results are impossible to predict they do however come down on the side of a yes vote “A No vote should be unthinkable - per head Luxembourg receives more EU money than any other country, most of it to fund a half-dozen major institutions housed there.” Telegraph reporter David Rennie in Schengen could only find “one lone no voter, a grape farmer trundling through Schengen in a toy-like vineyard tractor, who declined to give his name” obviously out of embarrassment at voting no.

Deutsche Welle on the other hand tends towards a no vote “At first glance, Luxembourg looks like it always does to any visitor: well-kept, European flags fluttering on numerous buildings, fresh geraniums planted in tidy flower beds. But below the veneer, trouble is brewing in Europe’s most pro-EU country.”

“Lately, the most ubiquitous presence in the country are the pamphlets and posters of the anti-EU camp. Ask the pedestrians and you will discover that Luxembourg is no longer as Europe-friendly as it has been in the past.”

The last survey in mid-June put opponents of the EU constitution at 45 percent, which is astounding considering that a few months ago more than 70 percent of voters in Luxembourg were going to vote “yes.”

“Luxembourgers, in increasing numbers, are echoing the same arguments used in France and the Netherlands to explain their opposition. André Kremer, from the Luxembourg Committee for a No-Vote, stated the reasons.”

“Our criticism is based on four points,” he said. “The first point is that the constitution was not conceived in a democratic way and is not democratic. Point two: it is not socially equitable. Thirdly, it is neoliberal and aims for totally open markets. And fourthly, it will militarize Europe.”

Guy Gibéryen from the populist Party for Democracy and Pension Equality “One would expect in a democratic country that the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ camps have the same resources,” he said. “But that is not the case in Luxembourg. The ‘no’ camp gets nothing, while the government uses taxpayer’s money for its massive ‘yes’ campaign. I’m convinced that this brainwashing will not work.”

Prime Minister Juncker has announced that he will step down if the electorate votes ‘no.’ For some that is the logical consequence of his support for the EU constitution, but for others, it smacks of blackmail, said a café owner in the capital.

“The prime minister says he will resign,” he said. “That’s crazy. That, in itself, is a reason to vote ‘no.’ It’s not about him. It’s about Europe. I am deeply disappointed.”

Which ever way Luxembourg votes on Sunday will not influence the problems facing the EU elites who still have to get 100% acceptance for the Constitution to become effective, it will just add to the clamour of the intergrationalist for a continuation of the process of ratification, but they should realise that at some point is this process does continue they are going to have to face the fact that at least three major players will have vetoed the project that is unless Blair continues to hold out against allowing the British the chance of voting.