Abstract
This article analyses the French debate on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE) over the course of one year from the beginning of the referendum campaign until the period immediately after the Constitution's rejection between May and October 2005. Five representative print media are analysed to explain the rejection of the Treaty in the French referendum. Our discourse analysis of the French media shows that opponents of the TCE were more successful in initiating public debate and in defining the meaning of the TCE than its proponents. The most controversy was generated by the TCE's potential implications for France's social model and by concerns about how the TCE might affect Turkey's accession to the EU. The French constitutional debate generally focussed on French actors. But the scope of arguments and justifications clearly transcended national boundaries, providing the impetus for discussions of conflicting visions for the future of Europe.
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