Dutch voters reject new EU constitution

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Following their neighbors in France, Dutch voters delivered a stinging rebuke yesterday to the architects of a unified Europe by voting overwhelmingly against the new European constitution.

With almost all the votes counted, 62 percent said "no" to the constitution and 38 percent supported it. In France on Sunday, the "no" vote was 55 percent. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende conceded defeat less than 30 minutes after the polls closed.

Turnout was 62 percent, much higher than had been expected.

Although some European leaders have vowed to press on with the ratification process, the stunning rejection of the draft constitution by two of the European Union's six founding members means the 448-article constitution is, for all intents, dead.

Nine EU members have approved the constitution, but only Spain did so by referendum. The others ratified it in their legislatures. The constitution has to be accepted by all 25 member-states to take effect.

The new constitution was supposed to streamline the decision-making process for the EU, speed economic changes and allow Europe to speak with a unified voice on foreign policy. If European leaders decide to withdraw the draft, the EU will continue operating under the terms of the Treaty of Nice, which came into force two years ago.

This means the EU will remain a significant economic trading bloc, but the dreams of France, Germany and many lesser European powers of evolving into a kind of United States of Europe that could rival the U.S. as a political force will have to be put on hold.

This week's double defeat has roiled political waters across Europe. The euro fell against the dollar after the French vote, and President Jacques Chirac reshuffled his government.

Britain, which was expected to hold a referendum on the constitution in the first half of next year, is now talking about abandoning the idea.

Poland is the next big country scheduled to vote, on Sept. 25. After joining the EU along with nine other countries a year ago, Poland has had a testy relationship with Brussels. Although Poland's government strongly identifies with Europe, it led the unsuccessful campaign to include some mention of God and Christianity in the new constitution. Poles also are miffed that they are still excluded for some member-states' labor markets.

Political analysts in the Netherlands attributed the "no" vote to a weak campaign by the government and uncertainty about the economy.

"People weren't convinced that the government was convinced," said Maarten Huygens, a journalist at NCR Handelsblad.

"Maybe if we were still in the high-rolling '90s, it wouldn't have been a problem ... [but] we are in the longest postwar recession, and people are very insecure about their future," he said. "Some people blame it on globalization, a loss of control, and they feel the problem is in Brussels."

As in France, opposition in the Netherlands ranged across the political spectrum. The "no" campaign was spearheaded by the minuscule Socialist Party, which controls only nine seats in the Dutch parliament, but also drew support from the far right anti-immigration party of Geert Wilders.

While the government campaigned on the slogan of "Europe: It's rather important," Wilders, a colorful populist, was busy handing out fake 180-euro notes representing the per-capita loss based on what the Dutch pay into Europe and what they get back.

The "no" campaign also played out against the backdrop of the November 2004 murder of Theo Van Gogh, a well-known Dutch filmmaker who was killed by a militant Muslim immigrant.

The incident stunned the nation, and for many Dutch it came to embody their fear that the Netherlands' liberal values were being undermined by a flood of immigrants from Muslim countries. Some Dutch are concerned that the expansion of the EU to include Turkey will further endanger their national identity; others suggest that too many rules from Brussels will have the same effect.