EU: European Commission president José Manuel Barroso has criticised French politicians for allowing the debate on a controversial plan to liberalise services to become entangled in the EU constitution referendum campaign.
Responding to opinion poll evidence that opposition to the constitution is growing in France, Mr Barroso said French voters should understand that the referendum is about the constitution and nothing else.
"I think the prime responsibility for explaining that to the French people lies with French politicians. We're quite prepared to help but it is up to the men and women who are politicians in France to explain to people what is at stake. And what is at stake in the referendum is the European constitution - nothing else, not domestic policies or any other external policies," he said.
France has led criticism of the services directive - a plan to create a single market in services similar to the EU's single market for goods. Internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy has offered to work with the European Parliament to change the proposal but France wants it withdrawn altogether and redrafted.
Mr Barroso said the commission had signalled clearly its willingness to respond to concerns about the directive, even before it became a difficult political issue in France.
"Having said that, I think we must be clear that the French will not be voting in a referendum on the services directive. You may or may not have a services directive whether you have a constitution or not. That is what French politicians need to explain to their fellow citizens. If there's confusion in French public life about that, it's not the fault of the commission," he said.
Mr Barroso said the commission could not suspend its work programme because of the French referendum campaign. "Look, there'll be a referendum in France and in other countries - the Netherlands, Denmark, next year in the United Kingdom. That would mean the commission would be completely hamstrung for the next year or so."
He annoyed Paris last Monday with a speech to a free market think-tank that outlined a robustly liberal economic vision for Europe. French president Jacques Chirac gave Mr Barroso a sharp dressing down by telephone the following day, leaving him "badly shaken", according to sources in the Berlaymont.
Mr Barroso has sought to justify the plan to liberalise services on the basis that it will give the EU's 10 new member states a much-needed opportunity to increase their prosperity. He told France yesterday his duty was to represent the interests of all member states, not just the EU's founder members. "There are 25 member-states. I can't take our decisions just taking into account the interests of one country."