Brussels, 06/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - The British government announced on Monday that it would postpone its referendum on the European constitution scheduled for 2006, despite the pressing appeal of the Commission, (reiterated on Monday by President Barosso) to the Member States not to take unilateral measures on the ratification process of the Constitution before the European Council of the 16 and 17 of June. Jack Straw will tell the House of Commons today that the parliamentary process which would have allowed a referendum to be held in 2006 would be postponed, said the Downing Street spokesperson mid-Monday (at the time of going to press the official announcement had not yet been made: Ed). "The bill on the Constitution has been suspended until there is more certainty of what will happen", he added, repeating the British request for "time to think". The spokesperson stressed, however, that "this does not mean that we are taking away from the British people the option to vote, if there is a Constitution to vote on" (a scarcely veiled allusion to a repeat of the vote in countries which have already returned a "no" verdict).
On Monday, Poland announced that it would be holding its referendum. "The French, the Dutch and the British cannot take the decision for us", Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld told Reuters. "We must decide for ourselves (...) via a referendum".
If this British decision is confirmed, "it would not be able to change the French position", said the new French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, speaking in Luxembourg on Monday. She said that "it is not up to any member of the EU to decide for the others or to block the ratification process of a treaty which was drafted and signed by 25 States". Ms Colonna stressed that next week's summit will help to "resume in-depth reflection on the relationship between the citizens and European construction (...) a reflection which must be carried out in France, but also collectively, by all 25".
In the meantime, France and Germany repeated that the ratification process must continue. Chancellor Schröder's spokesperson announced that at a working dinner with President Chirac in Berlin last Saturday, the Chancellor said that "despite this difficult debate, we must by no means drop this project. We must not abandon the idea of Europe because we are having difficulties, but on the contrary, we must try to resolve these difficulties". "Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder agreed that the constitutional process must be continued in full respect of each of the Member States which have the right and the duty to take position" said the spokesperson, who also confirmed that Germany was prepared to budge on the financial perspectives of the EU. "The Chancellor hopes that the other Member States will also agree to make the necessary gesture to reach a positive result" at the Summit, he indicated. "The President is in full agreement with this approach", said Jacques Chirac's spokesperson.
According to an opinion poll, the majority of Danish citizens (53%) would like the referendum to take place as planned on 27 September, and 31% think that it should be cancelled. According to three opinion polls of 3 June, the “noes” have taken the lead, but there is a very high proportion of undecideds (30%).