[Decodiver]

It is an interesting issue.

I, for one, hope that the French vote no, most of my family over there have assured me that that is their intention.

I have mixed feelings about the whole thing really.

With Irish and French nationality I get to see it from a different perspective than most people.

The EU was originally set up to assist the poorer countries of central Western Europe at the end of the Second World War. The countries that had been devestated by the war, such as France and Germany have been the main beneficiaries of the Union since it's inception.

So a part of me questions, the validity and morality of France voting against a constitution that will aid the poorer countries of today.

On the other hand, I also see the creeping hand of Brussels-led bureaucracy that grabs more and more of our way of life each day. I see it here in the UK, in Ireland and in France and other EU countries also.

I am fortunate to travel widely throughout Europe in my 'real' job, and I have seen the way certain EU member countries fanatically apply European law (the UK almost to the letter) and others who couldn't give a monkey's.

Portugal is a good example of this, they produce floor tiles in illegal factories, burning all and anything in their furnaces without so much a by-your-leave for the Kyoto treaty and anti-pollution legislation. And they do so with impunity. Sell a pound of bananas in the UK however and the Trading 'Geheime Staatspolizei' Standards will come down on you like a metric tonne of bricks!

Not to mention the fact that they, and the Spanish, trawl and then sell the smallest of fish, that would ensure certain prosecution if sold in the UK.

So why should we want a Constitution that will only ever be applied by a few countries?

It is a difficult call, personally the whole thing needs to be rewritten IMHO and I am crossing my fingers that 'No' will carry the day .

The only downside is that Mr Tony 'I've Killed-Less-Foxes-Than-Servicemen' Blair will see a French and Dutch no vote as a huge 'Get out of Jail Free Card'.

And anything that makes that arrogant impotent Elf-faced prick's day easier really grates in my throat.

Cheers,

Dave Cooper.