French veto of constitution rattles Europe

PARIS — The shock waves of France's rejection of a constitution for Europe reverberated throughout the continent on Monday. Britain suggested that it might cancel its own popular vote on the document, and the naysayers in the Netherlands gained even more confidence that a no vote would prevail in a referendum there on Wednesday.

In France, the vote plunged the center-right government into crisis. President Jacques Chirac will announce "decisions concerning the government" and make a declaration on French television today, his office said.

The statement was interpreted to mean that he would dismiss Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and reshuffle his Cabinet as a direct result of the repudiation of Chirac's leadership in a referendum on the European Union Constitution on Sunday.

There has been open speculation for months that Raffarin would be replaced if the constitution failed in France, and after a 30-minute meeting with Chirac in Elysee Palace on Monday, the affable but unpopular prime minister said, "There will be developments today or tomorrow."

He declined to say whether he had offered his resignation, telling reporters: "I'm going for a stroll around Paris. See you later."

The euro fell sharply on Monday as traders in the United States sold the currency a day after the French vote, slipping to a seven-month low of about $1.25 in late afternoon trading.

Farmers, workers and unemployed French were among those who led the way to the defeat of the EU Constitution, voting no in high numbers largely over concerns about the economy. European leaders who had promoted the constitution as the logical, if revolutionary, next step in the growth and unification of the 25-member bloc could not hide their disappointment.

The most serious potential foreign fallout from the no vote in France came Monday from Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, who called for a "time for reflection," saying it was too early to decide whether a popular vote could go ahead in his country.

"Underneath all this there is a more profound question, which is about the future of Europe and, in particular, the future of the European economy and how we deal with the modern questions of globalization and technological change," Blair told journalists during a vacation in Italy.

Nine EU members ratified the constitution before the French referendum. But France's no vote is likely to kill the constitution — at least in its current form —because it requires approval by all of the union's member countries.