How appropriate that the French parliament has approved the European Union’s Lisbon treaty in a special session at Versailles. By ignoring public opinion in this way, France’s politicians have proved themselves to be worthy heirs of Louis XIV.
The Lisbon treaty is essentially a repackaging of the European Union constitution that was decisively rejected in a referendum in France in 2005. As a defeated politician once put it – "The people have spoken, the bastards." But the newly-married President Sarkozy is not one to take rejection lying down. He has decided to push through the new treaty, without risking a second referendum. He argues that a second rejection would be disastrous for both France and the European Union.
Some French pro-Europeans are cheekily arguing that the parliamentary vote proves that "France" has had second thoughts. A Mr Giuliani of the Fondation Robert Schuman (I was wondering what had happened to him) is quoted in today’s FT as saying – "The French tasted isolation in Europe in recent years and they didn’t like it." Well, I’m sure Mr Giuliani didn’t like it. But what the French people themselves think, we will never know. Opinion polls show that well over 50% of them would like a second referendum on Lisbon. But France’s political elite is not going to make that mistake again.
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