BRUSSELS, May 30, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – It was clear Monday, May 30, that the French "no" vote against the European Union's proposed constitution completely swept EU leaders off their feet despite their insistence the "earthquake-like thumbs-down vote" was not the end of the day for the European unity dream.

"There is a very serious problem and we can't really say it's business as usual," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso admitted, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

But "there is no plan B. It's not reasonable to even think of a renegotiation," Barroso told French news channel LCI. "That must be said with great respect for France. There are 25 countries."

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, said: "The process of ratification must continue in the other countries."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed "great regret" at the outcome but said it did not mean the death of the charter.

"The outcome of the referendum is a setback for the process of ratifying the constitution, but not its end," he said after speaking to French President Jacques Chirac by telephone. "It is also not the end of the Franco-German partnership in and for Europe.

Blair called for a "rethinking". (Reuters)

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on holiday in San Gimignano, in the Italian region of Tuscany, called for a re-think.

"What is important now is having a time for reflection with the Dutch referendum in a couple of days' time and the European council in the middle of June," he said.

A pause for reflection was "sensible", Blair said, because of the size of the vote in France, where the "no" camp took about 55 percent of the vote and turnout was nearly 70 percent.

"If there is a constitutional treaty to vote upon we will have a vote in Britain before ratifying it," Blair told reporters.

"But we have to see what happens in the Dutch referendum."

Britain, where many people fear the treaty is aimed at creating a European "superstate," is due to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union from July 1.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose people overwhelmingly backed the treaty in a February 20 referendum, the first to be held on the continent, said the show had to go on.

"Once all 25 (member) countries have spoken we will decide on the next steps," said Zapatero.

"European construction is a grand project and will overcome obstacles as Europe is not the problem, Europe is the solution."

Leaders in Denmark, Ireland and Portugal, where referendums are also planned, said they intended to go ahead with their national votes despite the French result. Denmark and Portugal are due to vote in September and October respectively while Ireland is yet to set a date.

In Austria, Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik blamed the French result on internal political gripes.

"The European Union cannot be made the scapegoat for vague fears or national bellyaches," she said.

"Nine European nations have already accepted this constitution. Their decision cannot be pushed to the background."

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana vowed Monday that the 25-nation bloc will remain active on the world stage.

But he warned against the EU being plunged into "paralysis" by the French vote Sunday.

"Life continues. The EU will continue to be an actor," he told reporters, a day after French voters dealt a stunning "no" to the constitution, which aims to prevent decision-making gridlock in the expanding bloc.

"The EU has been an actor before even we started to talk about a constitution. We'll continue to work 24 hours (a day) with the same energy that we've done before," he said, according to AFP.

"Life continues. The EU will continue to be an actor," Solana insisted. (Reuters)

The French blow was not actually the first but rather the latest in a number of crises to shake the bloc since the earliest days of European integration.

Jean Monnet, the Frenchman widely recognized as the founding father of Europe, described crises as opportunities. Europe "will be made from crises and will be the sum of all the solutions brought to these crises," he told AFP.

In August 30, 1954, the European Defense Community project failed after France refused to ratify the treaty signed in May 1952. It was Europe's first crisis and it took some 40 years before external security and defense policy recovered.

In January 14, 1963, France's President Charles de Gaulle vetoed Britain's entry into the Common Market. He did so again on November 27, 1967 but Britain finally joined in 1973.

July 1, 1965 witnessed "The Empty Chair" crisis. It was a stalemate that arose from a dispute over budget funding which saw de Gaulle withdrawing French representatives from community activities for seven months.

In December 2000, the EU 15 met in Nice to work out how the Union's institutions would function when it expands to 25 members in May 2004, but a minimal accord is reached after four days and nights of wrangling.

In June 8, 2001, Fifty-four percent of Irish voters rejected the Nice Treaty. They ended up approving it the second time around on October 19, 2002.

The last crisis was in December 13, 2003 when the EU's 25 members failed to reach agreement on the treaty on the Union's first-ever constitution, following a dispute over the system of voting to be employed in the enlarged bloc. The constitution was finally adopted by leaders of the member states on June 18, 2004.

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