Pyrenees: Helene Burel is not sure what to make of the EU's constitution and does not know whether to vote for or against it in France's referendum tomorrow. She says she may even cast a blank ballot paper.
Like many in this small town high in the Pyrenees mountains, Ms Burel feels far removed from EU institutions in Brussels and the government ministers in Paris who have been urging people to back the treaty.
"Unless you've got a degree in law it's hard to work out what this constitution means," said Ms Burel, the newsagent in Cauterets, a ski resort that is home to 1,026 registered voters. "It hasn't been well explained."
Voters in this southwestern corner of France rejected the Maastricht Treaty that brought closer EU integration by 391 votes to 350 in France's last referendum in 1992.
"We're not interested in Europe," said Brigitte Capou, who runs a local campsite and doesn't see any reason to back the proposed treaty. "I don't see what it has to do with us, here in the mountains."
In neighbouring Spain, only about 17km (10 miles) to the south, voters approved the constitution in February by 77 per cent to 17 per cent. Cauterets farmer Bruno Boyrie shrugged off the Spanish result, and the campaigning in favour of the constitution by the French government and foreign leaders including Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
"Our leaders have taken the French people for idiots by saying only those from the far right or far left will oppose this constitution," said Mr Boyrie (35), who plans to vote against. "They don't see things like the people. I'm against this liberal Europe without rules," he added.
Shopkeeper Claude Vergez (55) said he is in favour of the constitution, but did not think he should be voting. "It was a mistake to have a referendum. It's just Chirac who thinks he's de Gaulle," he said, in reference to the late president, recently voted the greatest Frenchman by TV viewers. "You need to have studied constitutional law to understand it," Mr Vergez added. "It would have been better for parliament to vote. They understand these things."