欧州憲法条約の批准を否決したフランスの国民投票

Abstract

The objective of my article is to conduct comparative research between two referendums in France for the ratification of the Treaty of EU in 1992 and the Treaty of European Constitution in 2005. We find some similarities and differences. As for the similarities, there are such common aspects as the political reason why two French Presidents, Mitterrand and Chirac, resorted to referendum for the ratification of two treaties, the current of public opinion during the campaign before the voting and the lack of French people's understanding on the European Integration.There are, however, some differences. The first is that French people did not anticipate the impact of the successful EU for them in 2005, while they seriously worried about the failure of the EU development in the form of EMU, CFSP and so on in 1992. French people's perception on the future of the EU has become much more pessimistic since then, because they are disappointed with the present results of the EU. Secondly, the socio-economic environment in France was far more serious in 2005 than in 1992. Prime Minister Raffarin had encountered such difficulties as an unstable social seceerity. Thirdly, there was some indifference among influential French politicians on the Treaty of European Constitution, which did little to enhance French people's EU identity. The process of the referendum in 2005 was renationalized in the sense that French people preferred to view the referendum on the Treaty of European Constitution as a contest of internal politics.Those characteristics above-mentioned reveal the lack of the EU identity among French people as well as their reluctance to accept the enlargement of the EU including the East European States and the Turkey.