History in Europe has slowed down. Further European integration has been put on ice; it's a 'non-starter' because in a massive turnout, French voters overwhelmingly said 'non' to a new constitution on Sunday. The Dutch also said 'no' in a referendum on Wednesday.
The 400-page constitution, announced in triumphant calls by leaders as representing the biggest, most historic decision in generations, is now dead on arrival. The constitution was put together by political elites in a process led by French former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, and the European Union's 25 members signed up in Rome in October.
It brought together sensible new procedures for managing an enlarged union and called grandly for a European bill of rights, a European president, a foreign policy tsar for Europe, and it followed the infuriating European bureaucratic device of constructive ambiguity. Thus it tried to be everything for everybody and therefore pleased no one.
The constitution was just too grand. On one hand, politicians said it was simply about process, but then said it was the most monumental decision people would make in their lifetime. The constitution has already been ratified by nine countries; however, it has to be accepted unanimously by all EU members.
The people are now saying 'enough is enough'. Unemployment is at 10 per cent in France. Germany suffers with 5 million unemployed - a figure not seen since the Great Depression. The scene is set for major reaction.
It is normal for politicians to want it both ways. But when, for years, they attack the European bureaucracy in Brussels for all their domestic problems, and then ask the voters to give Brussels more power - it did not wash.
Even after the result, some leaders were stunning in their condescension. A former president of the European Commission sadly shook his head and said he was displeased. Pardon?
