“Europe needs to be completely rethought. Is the EU really necessary? What is its point? The EU has become a bloated, arrogant bureaucracy performing needless tasks, and always concerned to increase its own power.
“We now have an opportunity to build a freely trading Europe of 25 independent countries, working together. Power should be restored to national governments. The powers of the European Commission should be drastically reduced to make them into a conventional civil service.
“The Europe of 25 should concentrate on its most important task of integrating the former communist states into the European economy. The single market needs to be completed, which it never is. Europe should co-operate on foreign affairs when the interests of different countries coincide.”
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, head of Fiat and Ferrari and president of Confindustria (Italian CBI)
“The French and Dutch votes are a negative fact. But as we say in Italian, not everything bad has a harmful outcome and in this case we, paradoxically, have an opportunity to relaunch Europe on a different basis. I believe in a strong Europe, but one that is less bureaucratic and closer to its citizens. We need an integrated foreign policy, but also an integrated industrial policy, and not just a commercial policy. I welcome the fact that Britain inherits the rotating EU presidency on July 1 because Tony Blair is ideally placed to help to get Europe out of this impasse and to relaunch the European project on a new basis.”
Glenys Kinnock, Labour MEP
“I think this is clearly the moment when we step back, take a deep breath and look at the way we manage things. People want more accurate, factual information. I think things have been going too fast. We all felt a warm glow when ten new countries joined last year, but there were grave concerns among the citizens of Europe, which we did not address. I think it would be wrong to bulldoze on with ratification of the constitution, but we could look at technical issues , such as voting rights, which we could implement for efficiency. The EU exists and it has a very important future for all Europeans.”
Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of easyJet and easyGroup
“I think that for business it is really ‘business as usual’ in Europe. The rejection of a common European constitution by the French and Dutch electorate was a vote of protest against their politicians, not against the concept of a single economic market.”
Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Professor of Global Environmental History at Queen Mary, University of London, and author of The Times Illustrated History of Europe
“There are two possible courses for the powers that be in Europe. The first is to use this opportunity to pause because the pace of integration has been too fast. The second is to use this as an opportunity for greater enlargement, and think seriously about including Turkey. I would be in favour of Europhiles such as myself using this opportunity to pause. It means we can throw away this constitution, which was ill- conceived, poorly presented and was always bound to alienate a majority of people.
“The problem was the way the document was drafted. Wild horses had dragged it into the dust, throwing up enormous clouds of confusion.”
Sir Menzies Campbell, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman
“When the dust has settled there will still be a European Union of 25 countries with a constitutional framework based on the five existing treaties: Rome, the Single European Act, Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice. To retreat from a union to a free trade area, as some are now arguing, would be foolish.
“As presently constituted the Union has become a bulwark of stability and a beacon of democracy. The future of the former Warsaw Pact countries has been assured by their membership of Nato and of the EU.
“We must not allow an admitted reverse to undermine the achievements of the last 50 years. In particular, we should be increasing co-operation in foreign affairs so that Europe can speak with a single voice when its members agree to do so. What is now needed is a period of calm reflection and not an outbreak of collective hysteria.”
Angela Merkel, conservative leader of the German Opposition, in a speech after being nominated to challenge Gerhard Schröder in the autumn general election
“This shows the alienation between Europe and its people. People are justifiably worried that the borders of Europe are not clearly defined. This alienation must be addressed and that is why I am firmly convinced we need an honest discussion about Turkish membership.”
Lord Brittan of Spennithorne, former Vice-President of the European Commission
“The important point is to achieve the right policies for the EU, rather than seeking to ratify or amend the existing constitution. The first important policy is to increase free trade and economic liberalisation within the EU and throughout the rest of the world. The second important policy that the EU should endeavour to achieve is to strengthen its political role and standing in the world."
Paul van Buitenen, independent Dutch MEP
“People voting ‘no’ used a wide range of arguments. Most did not appeal to me. There is no single solution. What is very important for me, but was not sufficiently emphasised, is that the constitution is a rotten document. It would have led to a superpower with no democratic framework. It was a huge monster. Fortunately, the French shot it and the Dutch stabbed it in the back. To represent it simply would not work.”
Justine Greening, new Tory MP for Putney
“It was the height of arrogance for European leaders, including our own Prime Minister, to sign the EU constitution before people had a chance to say whether they wanted it or not. The French and Dutch ‘no’ votes should be respected and acted upon by European leaders, not ignored. That should mean the constitution is dead.”
Hubert Védrine, French Foreign Minister 1997-2002
“The Dutch ‘no’ shows that the crisis is European and not just French. That confirms my idea that there is an integrationist elite, in other words a group of leaders who believe that a forced march is necessary whatever the criticism from the people.
“There is a gigantic gulf. Maastricht was an early-warning signal. It earned 49 per cent ‘no’ in France in 1992 but the elites marched on, blaming opposition on the extreme Right and the nationalists. In the Netherlands, the reasons for the ‘no’ are more pupulist and linked to the question of immigration than in France but the two countries have a common desire by the people to retain a degree of sovereignty. Everything that we have heard from Brussels this week is absurd and astounding. It is not serious to carry on like this. Ratification does not mean anything any more and it would be useless and masochistic for Blair to hold a referendum.”
Miles Templeman, director-general of the Institute of Directors
“The French and Dutch referendums have taught us two valuable lessons. First, on the political front, there is a lot of mistrust, confusion and uncertainty, that seems to span across much of the continent.
“Secondly, economic performance across much of the EU has been poor for some time, creating a climate of instability. The key to the future, from a British business point of view, is to take time to rebuild trust again with the people of Europe.”
Alessandra Mussolini, MEP, leader of the Social Alternative Party, granddaughter of Il Duce
“The people of France and the Netherlands have expressed a view held by many of us: that European integration has been imposed on the peoples of Europe from above by a self-serving bureaucratic elite, which ignores the opinions of citizens. I cannot understand why Italians were not given the chance to have their own say in a referendum on the constitution, or for that matter on the euro, which has impoverished all social classes. I intend to introduce a Bill in the European Parliament calling for the euro to be suspended.”
Michael Spencer, chief executive of ICAP, the world’s largest money broker
“I don’t think the EU will fall apart over this. The votes will tell the political elite that there is no public appetite for more centralisation in Europe. I hope that a move towards a federal European superstate is now over. We should revisit the original economic ideal for Europe, which encouraged free-trade.”
Carol Vorderman, television presenter and campaigner against the euro
“I don’t think that we in Britain should now have a vote on the constitution. It is dead in the water. But I have suspicions that it will come back to us, slightly modified, because there are many politicians who want to see it through.
“I believe that we should return to the first principles of the European project. The Common Market was originally about free trade. Since then, the EU has has taken on a life of its own, and politicians in Britain and Brussels have tried to force upon us all kinds of other rules and regulations without reference, and on our behalf.
“I don’t want people to think that I am small-minded. I am of Dutch origin, my brother lives in Holland, I am pro-immigration. But I do have problems with our sovereignty being handed over to an unaccountable body.”
Philippe de Villiers, MP, president of Mouvement pour la France, the main conservative Eurosceptic group in the French Parliament
“After the Dutch ‘no’, the European constitution is like a decapitated duck that is still running around. France is not isolated since the Netherlands, another founding member of the Union, has refused the treaty. President Chirac must now lead four European initiatives: immediate suspension of Turkish entry to the Union; the re-establishment of quotas on Chinese textile imports; reimposition of passport controls at internal EU frontiers; send the constitution back to the drawing board.”
Nigel Farage, leader of the UKIP delegation to the European Parliament
“Thank God there were referendums. These things are so important they cannot be delivered by the political class alone. I have no doubt they will halt the referendum process. To do otherwise would be masochistic.”
Jan Rokita, the leader of Poland’s Conservative Opposition
The future of Europe depends on the ability to reform, to reduce tax, to deregulate labour markets, to unify service markets and to reduce buraucracy. It depends on co-operation with the US and on the ability to create common European foreign policy towards Russia. We should construct a front of nations which support the internal reform of Europe and transatlantic co-operation. We should negotiate: prepare a new, short, understandable text designating how institutions will fuction. If this proves impossible then we should give up on the constitution completely.
Luke Johnson, the chairman of Channel 4
“There is a huge flaw in the question, ‘What now for Europe?’ It should be ‘What now for the EU?’ The EU has abused the language in its attempts to interchange EU and Europe. The EU is an artificial construct. It is an anti-democratic machine, a bureaucratic nightmare. I am pro-Europe, but opposed to the EU, which is not Europe. It is very difficult to predict what will happen to the constitution now. The economic problems of the eurozone countries are a major issue and will continue to weigh heavily on the ‘eurozone project’ and many of the issues that these countries are encountering, including whether or not to break away from the euro, will now be open for debate. Overall, I believe that the events of this week were wonderful news. It was a true show of democracy by the people of France and the Netherlands.”
Lucy Powell, campaign director, Britain in Europe
“The constitutional treaty cannot survive ‘no’ votes from two founder members of the EU. It is better to accept that Europe’s much improved rulebook will not be ratified, and move on as best we can. The challenges that led to the need for institutional reform will not go away, if anything they will become more acute. It may be possible at a later date for Europe’s leaders to make the case for changing the treaties and bring all their peoples with them.”
Michael Stürmer, author of The German Empire — A Short History and Professor of History at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
“Economic integration will continue. Any Plan B needs to keep building the single market and co-operation on security and defence. “But I would avoid using the term constitution, it sounds too much like a federal state. Turkey must stay outside the EU at all costs. It would saddle the EU with the sort of problems the bloc already has on a much smaller scale and cannot even solve. Turkey would bring a huge poverty problem into the EU, a huge agricultural problem, the Kurdish problem, the whole bloody burden of the Middle East.”
Marta Andreasen, the European Commission’s former accounting officer, suspended after “whistle-blowing”
“It does not surprise me that people do not trust the EU’s institutions and are not prepared to give them more power, which is what the constitution would do. Nothing changes. Europe will continue to operate in the same way for at least three years. People in the street feel they have no control over the whole project and no input.”
Interviews: Rajeev Syal, Charlotte Newton, Michelle Henery, Gráinne Gilmore, Richard Owen, Charles Bremner, David Crossland, Rory Watson and Kamil Tchorek
