European Constitution: Aftermath of French 'No' vote

2 WAY EX-??? ENGLAND: INT Lord Patten (EU Commissioner 1999-2004) interview SOT - President Chirac has been pretty bad news for France and Europe/ his Gaullist tendencies have left France with high unemployment and falling production and the country in the doldrums/ the French voters have given him a kick in the teeth with perhaps the rest of us could bear with equanimity were it not for the damage it does to the rest of Europe - Europe has always been above all about the nation states/ if this result makes people return to nationalism, corporatism and protectionism then we can say goodbye to being able to shape the world/ the constitutional treaty was a reasonable effort to find a way of accommodating the interests of all member states, it did so in ways the French regarded as far too favourable to the United Kingdom - the constitutional treaty will be as dead as a dodo if the Dutch vote no tomorrow/ it is absolutely preposterous to suppose we can have a referendum in Britain, possibly vote yes, then have to renegotiate elements of the treaty with France/ during presidency of EU, Blair has to put together elements that would make it easier to manage an enlarged European Union/ end the rotating presidency system, involve parliament more in the EU legislative process/ he must try and advance the liberalising agenda in Europe which isn't easy to do with Chirac still around/ he must not let the argument for further enlargement to go hang