A new opinion poll has shown a majority of French voters are opposed to the EU constitution for the first time.
According to the survey in the Le Parisien daily, 51 percent of French voters who have decided how they will vote in the May 29 referendum on the treaty are planning to reject it, with 49 percent saying yes.
Fifty-three percent, however, say they are tempted either to abstain or to spoil their ballot paper.
Most EU-watchers agree that rejection in France would spell the end of the treaty, plunging Europe into institutional paralysis and setting the European project back by 15 years.
The poll has confirmed a steady and apparently accelerating decline in French support for the constitution, which last September was at 69 percent. The polling agency, CSA, said the "yes" camp had lost more than 14 percent since its last survey less than a month ago.
Plainly shaken, leading figures from Chirac's ruling center-right UMP party and the opposition Socialists tried to put a brave face on the poll.
"It is a real electric shock," the labor relations minister, Gerard Larcher, admitted on French radio. "But I don't know of any difficulty that a man of spirit cannot eventually transform into a victory."
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin insisted he was "preoccupied" but "not saddened" by the poll result.
"This referendum needs uncertainty, so that every French voter realizes he has a historic role to play," Raffarin said. "It will help create debate, and the `yes' needs debate. The `yes' needs the `no' in order to win."
UMP leader Nicolas Sarkozy, Chirac's would-be successor on the right, said a "no" vote would mean "either the paralysis of Europe, or the isolation of France."
While the far-right National Front and a handful of small sovereignty parties oppose the constitution, Friday's poll showed that support for the treaty had dropped most dramatically among left-wing voters.
Compared with last month's CSA survey, Socialist backing for a "yes" vote had slumped 27 points to just 41 percent.
In part, analysts say, this reflects growing dissatisfaction with the Socialist party's vain attempt to argue that a "yes" vote for the EU constitution does not automatically imply approval of the conservative government's policies.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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