French vote threatens EU role on world stage

The "no" vote supporters celebrate Sunday night in Paris following the French referendum on the European Union's constitution. About 55 percent French voters rejected the EU's first ever constitution in the national referendum. PHOTO: AFP

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, speaking a day after the stunning French referendum, said the vote does not effect how he will run the 25-nation bloc's foreign policy.

"Life continues. The EU will continue to be an actor," he told reporters, a day after French voters dealt a stunning "No" to the constitution, which aims to prevent decision-making gridlock in the expanding bloc.

"The EU has been an actor before even we started to talk about a constitution. We'll continue to work 24 hours (a day) with the same energy that we've done before," he said.

Critics have suggested that the French "no" could plunge the 25-nation bloc into a prolonged period of introspection on its future direction, threatening to cloud its focus on foreign policy issues.

Analyst Mark Leonard of the London-based Centre for European Reform said the uncertainty over those plans will weigh heavily on the bloc's political influence.

"The EU is going to spend a lot of time and energy working out how to get out of this crisis, which will distract the leaders from the really big foreign policy questions, such as Iran, dealing with China and the US," he said.

The EU constitution, signed in Rome last October, notably proposes creating a long-term presidency to replace the current musical-chairs leadership and an EU foreign minister to give the bloc a single voice to the outside world.

The new foreign minister will replace two current jobs: Solana's and that of EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

It has been widely expected that Solana would become EU foreign minister once the constitution was ratified. Some have suggested that the EU could decide to create the job anyway, despite the ratification crisis.

The EU, which expanded from 15 to 25 nations last year, has long pledged to boost its diplomatic muscle, including notably in the Middle East where it has long been the biggest aid donor to the Palestinian side.

A standoff with Iran over its nuclear plans is the most high-profile diplomatic challenge facing the EU, and the United States -- which suspects Tehran of wanting to build nuclear bombs -- will be watching closely.

Leonard likened the situation to the early 1990s, when the EU was accused of failing to engage decisively to stop a series of Balkan wars, in particular because it was battling over the Maastricht Treaty and EU monetary union.

"There will be a similar thing where a lot of time and enegy gets eaten up with these sort of internal questions ... and that will frustrate I think particularly the Americans," he said.

Solana said EU leaders will now have to consult on how to react.

"The new situation arising as a result of the vote in France as well as the repercussions thereof will need to be analysed in a calm and lucid manner," he said.

But in the meantime the EU appears seriously weakened at a crossroads in its half-century long history.

"The French 'no' is of course a blow to European integration and the strengthening of the European Union," said Martin Schulz, Socialist head in the European Parliament.