SUPPORTERS of the moribund European constitution declared that the treaty was still very much alive last night after Luxembourg’s voters approved it in a referendum.

The Grand Duchy’s 223,000 voters, who are compelled by law to go to the polls, backed the treaty by 56.52 per cent to 43.48 per cent. The result means that the majority of EU countries, 13 out of 25, have now ratified the treaty, despite its overwhelming rejection by French and Dutch voters in their referendums just over a month ago.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the country’s arch-federalist Prime Minister, who had pledged to resign if the “no” camp won, declared afterwards: “The message that has come out and which is addressed to Europe and the world is that the constitution is not dead after the votes in France and the Netherlands.

“As Luxembourg has said ‘yes’ the process can go ahead. There is a way for the European constitution to be adopted.”

The result was welcomed by European governments, all of which, including Britain, still officially want to see the constitution ratified. Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, said that the vote was “encouragement for and an invitation to all Europeans to rapidly find a common path to overcome the current crisis”.

Downing Street issued a statement saying: “We welcome this result and congratulate Prime Minister Juncker and the people of Luxembourg on the open and lively debate during the campaign.”

José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, admitted that the future of the constitution was still uncertain but said that the result was “a strong signal because it means that a majority of member states consider that the constitutional treaty responds to their expectations”.

M Juncker, Europe’s longest-serving Prime Minister, had decided to gamble his career by pushing ahead with the poll even though all other European countries that had been planning referendums, including Britain, Poland, Denmark and Portugal, had decided to postpone them during a “pause for reflection”.

Most governments decided to postpone their polls only after it became clear they would lose them as a surge in Euroscepticism engulfed Europe.

Despite its tiny size — the Luxembourg electorate represents just 0.05 per cent of the total EU population — it exerts a disproportionate influence on EU affairs as a founding member of the Union which has always been at the forefront pushing for more political integration. M Juncker is president of the Eurogroup of the 12 countries in the single currency.

Opponents of the constitution are likely to point out that support in Luxembourg, at just 57 per cent, shows plummeting confidence in the EU even in the Union’s most famously pro-federalist country, where support for further integration used to run at over 80 per cent.

Neil O’Brien, campaign director of the “no” campaign in Britain, said: “If supporters of the constitution think the ‘yes’ vote in Luxembourg somehow cancels out the French and Dutch votes, they have completely lost touch with reality.”

However, European federalists believe the wind is swinging back in their direction, and that the French and Dutch votes will prove just temporary stumbling blocks. With Luxembourg following Spain’s “yes” vote last year, just as many countries have now backed the constitution in referendums as have rejected it.

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