Not before time, President Jacques Chirac has intervened personally in the French referendum campaign on the European constitution by urging voters to support it in a televised debate with a selected youthful audience. Public opinion is running consistently against ratifying the treaty six weeks before the voting on May 29th.
Mr Chirac must now take the lead in the campaign, a difficult task given the unpopularity of his government and the success of the No side in setting the agenda for debate. He had a mixed press yesterday for this first endeavour. There was much comment on the need for a more focused line of argument to counter the real and imagined fears of French voters. Many of them are fearful about a future which seems to herald more unemployment (20 per cent among young people), threats to social protection and a loss of French influence in an enlarged EU. Critics of the government are reluctant to support it and more inclined to make a protest vote.
Mr Chirac believes it is much too early to concede defeat and seems determined to fight a vigorous campaign. He will do so in parallel with the Socialist Party leadership which is to encourage fellow EU social democrat supporters of the constitution to campaign in its favour, notwithstanding marked divisions in its own ranks. One third of voters remain undecided and are open to be convinced to vote yes.
Several of Mr Chirac's major themes were aired in this broadcast and are convincing enough to be repeated in coming weeks. France, he said, would "cease to exist politically" in the EU if the treaty is rejected. It would lose the influence required to protect its interests. He defended the constitution as a necessary framework of rules which allows Europe to assert its world economic and political role in relation to the United States and China. He argued that it rejects the "ultra-liberal logic" emanating from the US and Britain and allows France and other states to defend their social protection from such pressures.
Critics say such warnings inject fear into the campaign rather than positive conviction. But French voters need to be told plainly that rejecting the treaty is not cost free- for their own country or the EU as a whole. Political leaders elsewhere must do what they can to reinforce this message. They must help to inject constructive arguments in favour of the constitution into an introverted French debate.
This constitution clarifies, simplifies and improves the EU's powers and spells out the values on which they are based. A French rejection would unravel that achievement and undermine the EU's world role.