10/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said on Thursday he did not fear a referendum in France on the European Constitution. "If it is a good text, then I do not fear a referendum", Mr Raffarin said in an interview with Le Monde (dated Friday). He noted, however, that "one must first of all be familiar with the final text to be submitted to ratification" and that it is therefore "too early to answer this question". "One cannot say one is an adept of the Vth Republic, make regional referendums possible and at the same time reject the referendum", the Prime Minister continued, saying he was in favour of such a ratification procedure in autumn 2003. The French Prime Minister nonetheless hopes above all that an agreement on the timetable will conclude the negotiation and said it is very important for all Union countries to be able to give their views at the same moment, for example the same week. As he sees it, this is as important as the choice between a parliamentary or referendum procedure. He concluded by saying that he gives priority to having simultaneous timetables, i.e. priority to the European dimension of the debate. The president (Chirac) will decide, he said.