French Saying 'Non' to EU Superstate

Confounding pollsters, pundits and politicians alike, public opinion in France has swung back behind a no vote to the new European constitution. Less than two weeks before France's May 29 referendum on the treaty, the polls showed support for the no camp, trailing since the end of April, had bounced back to between 51% and 53%.

Mainstream left opposition, led by the former Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius believes that the constitution enshrines a free-market vision of Europe that is incompatible with France's social values, and that adopting the treaty will amount to waving goodbye to French jobs and French public services.

These sentiments are shared by many in Germany and France who believe that an expanded Europe will be a free market free-for-all where ordinary workers will be the providers of the free lunch.