Apparently Jacques Chirac didn’t do too well on national TV arguing for a "yes" vote on the EU constitution. He said a rejection would make France the "black sheep of Europe.
Too bad. Also see the press reaction:
Le Figaro says: "In front of an audience in which those favoring the ’No’ seemed to be in the majority, the head of state often struggled to make heard his pro-European plea during a muddled broadcast." The
Washington Post notes: "In his remarks, Chirac sought to convince voters that irrational worries were standing in the way of the constitution, which he said would protect Europe from an ’ultra-liberal’ and ’Anglo-Saxon’ economic model, code words for American-style free-market capitalism."
It always amazes me that the French see us as adversaries. What is it...plain resentment? Sure, we dominated the global economy after WWII, but we also helped to rebuild Europe (which is one reason that the U.S. share of global trade went from 75% just after WWII to about 25% today). Is it just that we speak English, and this is just a continuation of ancient feuds? Why are these people so threatened by what has been called "the Anglosphere?"
After WW II, various metaphysical "constructs" were devised so that Frenchmen could avoid confronting the depth of their cooperation with "the boche," their cooperation in sending the Jews to "the east," their docile acceptance of Vichy, and their adoption of racial laws in many ways more vigorous than that of the NAZIS themselves. Deconstructionism, is a glaring example.
But utimately, present French policy can be understood only through the prism of Spring, 1940. You must grasp the scope and extent of their military overthrow.
The French had more tanks, had better tanks, had a bigger army, and had the advantage of fighting on their own ground, from prepared defensive positions. From long study of the battlespace, the French KNEW where the Wehrmacht was going to have to attack. Yet nonetheless, their army was swept aside in officialy 6 weeks, but in reality about 20 days. You could argue convincingly that the thing was over in about 10 days.
I recall reading that when the Germans took Sedan, a German General was so outraged by the foolishness of the French in not holding the town, that he berated a French officer for allowing them to take Sedan so rapidly. Sedan opened up the entirety of the French center. A German General said of its capture: "The French must be insane to have yielded Sedan, INSANE!"
France is still wrestling with the humiliation of 1940.