EUROPE reacted with widespread concern yesterday to the low voter turnout that undermined an otherwise strong Spanish vote in favour of the adoption of the Euro-pean Union constitution.

About 77 per cent of those who voted in Sunday’s referendum endorsed the proposed constitution, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, said the result had taken Europe to “a decisive stage of its development”.

However, the low turnout, with only 42 per cent of eligible voters taking part in the most enthusiastically pro-European country, gave Eurosceptics hope that the constitution will be rejected by other member states, including Britain and France.

Spanish newspapers stuck largely to their political allegiances, with the conservative ABC and La Razón describing the outcome as a setback for Señor Zapatero, while the pro-government El País applauded the success of the referendum. The right-of-centre El Mundo declared that the “resounding yes victory” was delivered with a “low but acceptable” level of participation.

Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the main opposition People’s Party, criticised Señor Zapatero for rushing Spaniards to the polls without offering enough information on the constitution. Nine out of ten Spaniards said they did not understand the document a week before they voted.

“The abstention may set warning lights flashing in some countries, because we were trying not just to export a ‘yes’ vote but also to export enthusiasm,” said José Ignacio Torreblanca, of the Real Instituto Elcano, a government-funded think-tank in Madrid.

French newspapers reprimanded Spain for its lack of enthusiasm. Le Figaro called it “the yes without passion”.

In an editorial the newspaper said: “This first ‘yes’ is unambiguous but it is disappointing, for Spain remains fundamentally Europhile and could have expressed this support more massively towards more sceptical countries.”

Germany’s right-wing Die Welt said the low participation rate showed that “for the moment the public debate about the European constitution has not really started”.

The centre-left daily Suddeutsche Zeitung said that Señor Zapatero had not convinced the masses about the EU constitution demonstrated by the low participation rate, the lowest since the restoration of democracy in 1975.

The Italian media were largely positive about the Spanish vote with the centre-left La Repubblica saying Señor Zapatero had “won the prize for Europeanism” and Corriere della Sera saying the Spanish Prime Minister had “won the referendum challenge”.

In the Netherlands and Poland, which face popular consultations this year, news-papers also expressed concern at the low turnout. “It would be difficult to consider these results as encouraging,” Poland’s left-wing daily Rzeczpospolita said.

It added that if the turnout falls below 50 per cent in Poland the result does not count and the decision is transferred to parliament.

The Dutch right-wing daily Le Telegraaf and the left-of- centre Trouw both expressed concern about the low turnout.

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