France: Buoyed up by the dramatic turnaround in French opinion polls, which now indicate a victory for the Yes vote in the May 29th referendum, President Jacques Chirac last night delivered his best performance yet in defence of the constitutional treaty.
"You cannot say 'I'm European,' and vote No," Mr Chirac repeated twice during a 45-minute live television interview. "It is not honest; it is not possible."
After 23 consecutive opinion polls showed that a majority of French people would vote against the treaty, the trend changed on April 30th, when a poll for Le Monde indicated 52 per cent would vote Yes. On Monday, Le Parisien's poll put the Yes vote at 51 per cent, and yesterday Le Figaro published a poll showing a 53 per cent victory.
The two rapid shifts in public opinion - against the treaty in March, now in favour of the treaty - are unprecedented in modern French history.
Mr Chirac refused to comment on the polls, but rejoiced in the "democratic debate" that is gripping France, and the fact that the treaty and books about the constitution now dominate the French best-seller list.
An aggressive information campaign by the government and the decline in the number of undecided voters have helped to reverse the trend, which is most marked among socialist voters; 56 per cent of socialists now say they will vote Yes, an 11-point rise in one week.
The former socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin's April 28th television appearance in favour of the treaty made a huge difference.
Impassioned campaigning by senior French politicians with sterling European credentials, including Simone Veil and Jacques Delors, has also swayed opinion. Mr Delors appears on the cover of this week's Nouvel Observateur magazine saying "They [ opponents of the treaty] are lying to you." Mr Chirac said he whole-heartedly backs the treaty because it fulfils his dream of "a united Europe of states and peoples, and not a United States of Europe."
He stressed that France's power within Europe is strengthened by the treaty.
"Decisions are taken by 25," he explained. "The number of French votes in the Council are increased by 50 per cent under this constitution. Together, France and Germany, who are the engine of Europe, go from 18 per cent of votes to 30 per cent, and together, the six founding countries of Europe have 50 per cent of the votes."
If France votes No, he said, the ratification process will stop and there could be no re-negotiation. French influence would be decimated, not only in the European Council, but in the G-8, the United Nations and other international fora.
Furthermore, Mr Chirac argued, France was "probably the only country that made no concessions on questions essential to her" in treaty negotiations "for which we are sometimes reproached." French demands that were met included recognition of public services, the individual's right to access to public services, and the principle of cultural diversity.
Earlier in the day, Mr Chirac received the somewhat awkward support of the president of the EU Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, who gave the closing address at a meeting of European artists and intellectuals at the Comédie Francaise.
"Everything we hold dear in cultural matters is reinforced by the constitution," Mr Barroso said in perfect French. "I would like to underline that in the cultural area, as in many others, the constitution innovates while preserving what has been accomplished."
In France, Mr Barroso is viewed as a dangerous economic liberal. He clashed with Mr Chirac over the so-called Bolkestein directive which would allow free movement of services across the EU.
Mr Chirac devoted much of his interview to reassuring the French that the constitution was "neither left-wing nor right-wing" and that individual governments would still pursue the social and economic policies that suited them. He quoted the secretary general of the Confederation of European Trade Unions who said that "International capitalism doesn't need a constitution; we do." The constitution would pull social protection in the Union upward, not down to the lowest common denominator, he promised.
Breaking out of his sometimes complex and dry rhetoric, Mr Chirac said: "I say it with all my faith, with all my passion: this is a constitution that combines the demands of the market with the demands of social harmonisation. It is the best possible constitution for France."