France/EU: 1

We had hoped to soon bring our legion of French followers the exclusive BoBW voter guide to the EU Constitutional referendum there on 29 May. Tempting as it would be to get our keenly-awaited position out, we've realised that the underlying issues are, like, complicated, so holding forth now would make us too much like the many know-nothing right-wing bloggers out there.

As indicated a couple of days ago, we're leaning towards the No side in France, but we'd like to spend a few posts, beginning with this one, to think through our position. We also encourage you to visit other blogs that are taking the issue seriously, such as Fistful of Euros and Dan Drezner.

Anyway, here's observation #1, crystallised by an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal Europe (subs. req'd). In the company the Journal keeps, the referendum doesn't have many well-wishers, but the editorial confines itself to praising the French decision to ratify it with a popular referendum as opposed to ramming it through the Assembly -- which they say has prompted a more informed public debate:

... myths and misconceptions can be debunked, or at least called into question. Listen to Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious head of the ruling party, who last week told students at Paris Dauphine university: "Why am I pro-European? Because I think it is a powerful lever to force France to modernize and reform. If France has twice as much unemployment as other countries it is not because we are too liberal, it is because we have the 35-hour week, which is not a creation of Brussels." It's about time someone said that.

But Sarkozy's tough words seem to mean that the EU is good because it forces France to do things that domestically the populace wouldn't vote for. We'd like to think that the case for EU is more than, as the Americans say, something that makes you eat your spinach.