I don’t know how to say “No!” in Flemish, but the Dutch sure as hell do:
Dutch voters rejected the European Union constitution on Wednesday, exit polls showed, deepening a crisis in the bloc and possibly dooming the treaty after fellow EU founding member France rejected it on Sunday.
Interview/NSS projected the “No” camp had won 63 percent of votes based on an exit poll to 37 percent for the “Yes.”
The resounding “No” is the latest sign of Dutch anger with the political elite since the 2002 murder of anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn, with unease stoked by last year’s killing of a filmmaker critical of Islam.
The rejection of the charter by the Netherlands, like France one of the six countries that founded the bloc in the 1950s, could deliver a fatal blow to the treaty designed to make the EU run better following its enlargement from 15 to 25 states.
It also casts doubt on the EU’s hopes for a more muscular foreign policy and its plans to expand further to the Western Balkans, Turkey and Ukraine, and raises questions about its appetite for economic reform amid mounting global competition.
There will never be a United States of Europe. I said that 12-15 years ago as a Poli. Sci. undergrad, and I still believe it today.
Darrell
Isn’t Flemish mainly spoken in Belgium? It’ll be interesting to see if ANY Euro nations end up voting for the EU constitution
John Cole
Isn’t Flemish mainly spoken in Belgium?
Yes.
jdm
Six European parliaments have already voted for the so-called constitution.
Flemish is spoken is northern Belgium – it is similar to Dutch. French is spoken in the south. Belgium has had various dust-ups over the years between the two groups.
The EU is not about economic reform anymore. It is about (political) power.
bg
I’m told it’s “Nee.”
Gary Farber
“I don’t know how to say ‘No!’ in Flemish, but the Dutch sure as hell do.”
Well, if they’re in Belgium. I’m fairly sure most Dutch people in Holland speak Nederlands, or as we say, “Dutch.”
John Cole
Goodness- My point was that the vote was so overwhelmingly “NO” that they could say no in multiple languages.
Jeebus, you people.
jdm
Oh, John, just think how edumacated you are now.
Here’s a freebie: the French speaking Belgians are called Wallonians or Walloons.
M. Scott Eiland
I can’t help but wonder what the vote would have been if the French had voted “yes”–it might have been tougher for a lot of Dutch voters to vote “No” if the onus had been on them as far as breaking unanimity went.
Stormy70
I agree with John, there will never be a United States of Europe. Thank God.
Rick
Something going off the rails with that touted “reality-based” continental community over yonder.
C’est do-freakin’-mage.
Cordially…
Rick
Don’t tell me: dommage, oui?
Bob
Nationalism is capitalism’s best friend. Whether it’s the Euro or the DM, no matter. Another three years of Bush minding the store and we’ll be so broke that German tourists will be coming to the U.S. on their sex tours. BOHICA.
jdm
Sure, Bob. Given their stale economies, German tourists will be travelling to the local park to feed the birds. OTOH, given their present birth rates, there may not actually be any Germans, tourist or otherwise,
Rick
jdm,
Something in what you wrote made me recognize a familiar theme in Bob’s Dire Forecast. And then it came back to me:
Reaganomics was going to ruin us, and we’d be at the mercy of Japan, Inc. Yeah, how’d *that one* turn out?
I guess that’s the kind of End of Times wailing behind some wisecrack about how the concensus of economists have spot-on predicted 22 of the last 3 recessions.
Cordially…
Lee
Bob: the sky is falling.
if we only had france’s economy…oops, it’s in the tank.
Kimmitt
Yeah, how’d *that one* turn out?
Bush I raised taxes and Clinton finished the job before Reagan’s foolishness did too much damage?
Rick
Kimmitt,
Wrong again. In a related story, dog bites man.
Cordially…