French Socialists threaten 'no' to EU constitution

France's opposition Socialist Party will campaign against Europe's new constitution if a referendum on it turns into a plebiscite on the policies of President Jacques Chirac, its leader said.

Francois Hollande told the weekly Le Nouvel Observateur published yesterday that he personally supported the European Union constitution and wanted his party to back it in the referendum Chirac has called for late next year.

But referendums in France, as elsewhere, can be precarious exercises because voters often use them to vent their anger against the government. The EU's Maastricht Treaty on economic and monetary union barely won approval in a 1992 vote.

"The Socialist Party will decide its position on the constitutional treaty in December. I hope it says 'yes' to Europe," said Mr Hollande, one of several potential Socialist candidates for the presidency in 2007.

"But if in the end the question turns into one about Jacques Chirac's fate, let there be no illusions - (our answer) will be 'no', with all the consequences that carries for the continuation of his mandate." Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen yesterday launched his National Front party's 'no' campaign against the constitution.

"If this constitution is adopted, that represents the end of France as a historic state, and that's also the end of the French Republic," Mr Le Pen told supporters at his party's summer university in Enghien-les-Bains, north of Paris.

"It's obvious that if a big state like France or Britain says 'no', it will be the end of the European process (...) and we need to go back to a national framework," said Mr Le Pen, whose party won 10 per cent of the vote in June's European elections.