EU implosion, update #3

The tide seems to be turning against the political integration of Europe. In just a few days, we've seen voters in France and Holland give the smackdown to their elites by voting down the atrocity known as the EU constitution, and the Financial Times reports that polls in Denmark and the Czech Republic aren't very promising. (We also have news that a minister in the Italian government is publicly suggesting that Italy consider dumping the euro and going back to the lira, but grumbling on that front is a side issue.)

The European elites, seeing which way the wind is blowing, appear ready to discard the document and start over again with a governing model that does much more to respect individual liberty as well as the sovereignty of member states.

Just kidding. They're realizing the folly of asking what their subjects think of this new superstate, so for the time being they may simply stop asking. Denmark, Portugal, Britain and Ireland are all considering postponing referenda in an attempt to diffuse some of the anti-union momentum.

The FT article also reports that:

Gerhard Schröder, German chancellor, is spearheading an attempt to keep the ratification process on track and is scheduled to meet Jacques Chirac, French president, in Berlin on Saturday.

Am I reading this correctly? He seems to be suggesting that overwhelming public disapproval of the treaty shouldn't stand in the way of its ratification. Are the referenda a required prerequisite to ratification? If not, then why have they been held? Were the elites so insulated from public opinion ("Everyone I know is for ratification") that they truly were surprised by these results?

And to think that many on the American left wonder why we don't try harder to be like Europe.


UPDATE: Looks like the Germans are having second thoughts about the euro as well.


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