PRESIDENT CHIRAC set out yesterday to persuade disgruntled French citizens to put aside their distaste for Europe and his own Government and vote oui to the EU constitution in a referendum.

The President and Jean-Pierre Raffarin, his Prime Minister, used a solemn parliamentary session at the Château de Versailles and a Franco-Polish summit to open a campaign to head off a possible political rout and death for the European treaty.

As both houses of parliament approved changes in the French Constitution to accommodate the European version, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, chief architect of the EU treaty, issued a warning. “If France votes ‘no’, it is probable that Britain will vote ‘no’ as well. From that moment, let us be clear, the constitution is dead,” the former President said.

Meeting President Kwasniewski of Poland in Arras, M Chirac said the EU treaty “will give the Union more democracy and efficiency and enable it better to exercise its role on the international stage, while bringing it closer to its citizens”. Opinion polls show that almost 60 per cent of decided voters want to ratify the treaty, but the “yes” margin is shrinking. M Chirac is expected this week to set a date in May for the vote.

The President is worried that many will vote “no” simply to punish him and the Establishment. A protest vote against President Mitterrand almost scuppered the EU’s Maastricht treaty in a 1992 referendum.

This time, the main grievances are the slowing economy, an unpopular government and a belief that the constitution is a British plot to demolish the old EU and admit Turkey.

The sour mood has been deepened by a rise in unemployment beyond 10 per cent for the first time in a decade. The resignation last Friday of Hervé Gaymard, the Finance Minister, in a scandal over his extravagant housing, has heightened disgust with the political elite.

Strikes and demonstrations are scheduled around the country for March 10 in protest against the Government’s reforms to welfare, education and working hours.

M Chirac, who is consulting all parties this week before fixing a polling date, is planning to lead the “yes” campaign himself. He has ordered M Raffarin to focus on explanation. As well as media advertising, ministers are to be sent around the country to allay a belief that the Constitution will rob France of sovereignty and its traditional social protection by turning the EU into an “Anglo-Saxon” free market.

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