FRANCE: Gérard Depardieu reads a text by Victor Hugo in a palace built by Napoleon III. Lara Marlowe witnesses French-style campaigning
In honour of the Day of Europe, the French government yesterday opened the doors of the foreign ministry, a gaudy palace built by Napoleon III, to the public. European flags fluttering from the sides of Paris buses gave the capital a festive feel. Most of those who queued good-naturedly on the quai d'Orsay said they'd come to learn more about the European constitutional treaty in advance of the May 29th referendum.
Abridged copies of the constitution and explanatory texts were stacked high on tables, free for the taking. Liveried doormen stood to attention as the public entered to Beethoven's Ode to Joy. In the first room, there was a forest of 25 blue flags with twelve gold stars. (The figure 12 is a symbol of perfection and unity and has nothing to do with the number of member states.)
The Salon de l'Horloge is considered the birthplace of Europe, where 55 years ago yesterday, the French foreign minister Robert Schuman proposed the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community. Since these were the main materials used to build weapons, Schuman thought that by pooling these resources, war between France and Germany would become "unthinkable". There were European treaties dating back to the 15th century on display in the Salon de l'Horloge, but the main attraction was the French actor Gérard Depardieu, who left a film shoot in the Ukraine to read a text by Victor Hugo, first delivered by the famous writer on August 21st, 1849.
Amid sumptuous brocade curtains, marble walls, gilt and crystal chandeliers, Depardieu wore a red T-shirt, a dark polar fleece jacket and rubber-soled shoes. School children from the Loire Valley sat at his feet. With his habitual aplomb, Depardieu brought Victor Hugo's prescient speech to life.
A hundred and one years before Robert Schuman foresaw the founding of the EU, Hugo predicted: "A day will come when . . . France, you Russia, you Italy, you England, you Germany, all of you, nations of the continent, without losing your distinct and glorious individuality, will melt closely together in a superior unit, and you will constitute the European fraternity . . . A day will come when there will be no battle fields other than markets open to trade and minds open to ideas. A day will come when cannon balls and bombs will be replaced by votes, by universal suffrage . . . A day will come when we shall see two immense groups, the United States of America and the United States of Europe, facing one another, holding their hands out across the seas, exchanging products, industry, art, genius . . ."
After the first round of applause, a voice shouted from the packed reception room: "How will you vote?"
"You heard me," Depardieu replied. "I'm voting Yes." More applause.
Cécile Cordary (22), a political science student at "Sciences Po" was among the audience. All French children study Victor Hugo's text on Europe, she said, and she had walked the few blocks to the foreign ministry to hear it delivered by Depardieu.
Cordary said she was very interested in the referendum, but has not decided how to vote. "The question of social justice is not given enough importance," she said. "And the treaty does nothing to harmonise taxes."
Cordary found President Jacques Chirac's assertion that it is impossible to be European and vote No "insupportable".
Students at "Sciences Po" talk constantly about the treaty. "It's omnipresent. It divides families. It divides friends," she said. "The majority at Sciences Po are for it; if you're undecided or want to vote No, you constantly have to justify yourself." By slowing down European integration, she said, "perhaps we will be able to change its direction".
The atmosphere was less formal on the square in front of the Paris town hall, where Francois Hollande, the leader of the French socialist party, and most of the party's star politicians turned out to welcome the "Caravan for the Yes Vote".
Twenty young socialists from France, Italy, Poland, Holland and Finland had spent two weeks campaigning from white vans in 13 French cities. Their last, noisy stop before the Hôtel de Ville was the Place du Panthéon, under the windows of Laurent Fabius, the leader of the left-wing No camp.
"I distrust people who go on television to scare people . . . saying that if the treaty passes, it would be the end of our social protection, our salaries and our pensions. Who can believe such a thing?" Mr Hollande asked, referring to an interview given by Fabius the previous evening.
Mr Hollande also criticised Mr Fabius, who may be expelled from the socialist party if the Yes vote wins, for stirring up resentment against new EU members. "The Poles, Lithuanians and Estonians are not my enemies," he said. "If they were, they wouldn't have been brought into Europe. They are my brothers and sisters. I want everyone in Europe to be protected from liberal globalisation."