Giscard Blames Chirac For EU Referendum Defeat

Click on the title for a link to an article by Elaine Sciolino of the New York Times, via the International Herald Tribune.

Chirac has blamed everyone (other than himself) for the EU referendum defeat, but it seems one old French politician is calling it, the other way:

Giscard, who has been harshly critical of Chirac in the past, accused the president of not responding early enough to dissatisfaction with his government and of confusing voters by insisting they vote on the constitution in its entirety, including all previously ratified European Union treaties.

Neither Chirac nor other European leaders have had a strategy for ratifying the constitution, he said. "The present generation of leaders, whatever their strengths, never put Europe at the top of their agenda," Giscard said.

Chirac in particular "didn't encourage people to be supportive of the system of Europe, but to be critical."

This is certainly not surprising, when you consider that France doesn't support friends and allies, very well. Chirac doesn't play well with the US, after all we have done for France over the decades. So, what makes anyone think that they will play well with their neighbors in a unified Europe? All Chirac knows how to do is criticize anything, not French.

He criticized Bush for removing Saddam and undermined the process, all the way through. From the inspections to this day, he has demonstrated no desire to do anything but criticize the US efforts to get Iraq up and running, correctly and safely. He will do this in the EU, anytime, France doesn't get the most benefit for the least contribution. Anytime it isn't credited to France or its bank account, he will throw a hissy fit, just like he is doing right now to get Britain to pay for more than its fair share.

So what does Giscard say needs to be done? It's more what he didn't say:

When asked whether Chirac should have resigned following the outcome of the vote, he did not say no. "I will not comment on that," he said. "I want to keep my distance from the leader of the French political scene."

He noted, however, the decision of President Charles de Gaulle to resign in 1969 the day after the French people, in a referendum, rejected a measure to revise the Senate, create regions and seek support after the student uprisings of May 1968.

"De Gaulle did, De Gaulle did," Giscard said. "The vote was on Sunday and on Monday all the packing was done and he went to Colombey," his longtime residence.

De Gaulle was Chirac's hero. (His anti-American and overall isolationist attitude is taken from a full chapter, right out of the DeGaulle "book of international diplomacy".) One would think that if your hero resigned after an embarrassing defeat, you would do the honorable thing and follow in his footsteps.

Giscard won't come right out and say it, but I will:

"Resign Chirac, resign. The sooner the better. Do it for France and the world."