Dutch Voters
Reject EU Constitution
By Chris Marsden
02 June 2005
World
Socialist Website
Voters
in the Netherlands have overwhelmingly rejected the proposed European
Union constitution. Initial projections based on more than half the
ballots cast in the June 1 referendum indicate that at least 62 percent
voted against the treaty, with turnout also as high as 62 to 63 percent
of the electorate.
Coming just three
days after France voted massively against the constitution, the no
vote in Holland delivers yet another blow to the plans of the European
bourgeoisie to consolidate the political union of the continentbased
on a document that enshrines the profit drive of the major corporations
as a constitutional principle.
Indeed, it was opposition
to the insistence on creating a highly competitive social market
economy that was the main reason for the popular rejection of
the constitution. Fears that European legislation would be less liberal
than that of the Netherlands on many social questionsa concern
raised by both right-wing and left-wing opponents of the constitutionwere
combined with anger at rising prices since the adoption of the euro
currency and general hostility to a government that has imposed major
social attacks and supported the US-led war against Iraq.
The no
vote is a rebuff not only to the governing right-wing coalition led
by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, but to the main opposition parties
who also called for a yes vote.
The yes
camp comprised the ruling Christian Democrats (CDA), plus coalition
partners, the Freedom and Democracy Party (VVD) and Democrats 66 (D66),
as well as the opposition Social Democratic Labour Party (PvdA) and
the Stalinist-led Green Left. These constituted fully 80 percent128
of the 150 Dutch parliamentary deputies.
Opposition to the
constitution and to the government was exploited by the right-wing Pim
Fortuyn List (LPF) and Geert Wilders, a former member of the VVD, who
is seeking to establish a rival populist organisation based on a xenophobic
stance similar to that of the LPF. The LPF dresses up its anti-immigrant,
anti-Muslim stance as a defence of the liberal social traditions of
the Netherlands. For his part, Wilders made anti-Muslim sentiment against
Turkey becoming an EU member state central to his attacks on the constitution.
Both stressed that the key issue was to preserve the national sovereignty
of the Netherlands.
On this issue they
were united with the former Maoists of the Socialist Party (SP), who
also stressed their opposition to what they described as the constitutions
neo-liberal economic agenda and the project of creating an imperialist
European militarism.
However, the no
vote was much broader and larger than the combined political influence
of all these parties could have produced. As such, it must have been
more strongly influenced by fears regarding the impact of yet more liberal
market reforms on living standards than would be suggested by the prominence
within the official no campaign of the LPF and VVDparticularly
given the anger generated by the already severe cuts imposed by the
governing coalition.
The referendum was
non-binding and could still be ignored by parliament when it meets today
to discuss the results. The government had promised that it would respect
the result of the referendum if turnout was above 30 percentwhich
was more than doubled on the day. But immediately following the ballot,
Balkenende said he was personally very disappointed and
that the ratification process should continue in other countries.
The Netherlands,
with a population of 16 million, was one of the six founding members
of the European Common Market and has been a bedrock of the European
Union project ever since. That it votes nee is perhaps not
as dramatic as the non registered in France. But it confirms
the widening gulf between the mass of European workers and the ruling
elites in every country, which has thrown their plans for political
union, economic counter-reform and military build-up into disarray.
German Chancellor
Gerhard Schröder has also called for the ratification process to
continue, but the constitution cannot come into effect unless it is
ratified by all 25 EU members. A summit meeting of the European Council
is due to be held on June 16-17 to discuss what to do following the
votes in France and the Netherlands, and whether to abandon the constitutional
treaty.