"No" to the EU Constitution

The contributors, all coming from left parties, feminist movements and trade unions, united in their disapproval of the new EU Constitution, which is in a process of signing by EU member states.

In some of the countries the constitution is voted on national referendums, in others - it is ratified by national parliaments, so different mechanisms have been developed. Many speakers commented that there were no debates in their countries about the new constitution and what it would change. Christoph Sykora from Austria said that people were not aware that the constitution would bring the end of Austrian neutrality, which was actually very important for the welfare of the nation.

Most of the speakers identified the French up-coming referendum in May as the most important event in the struggle against the constitution, which would define the future. "If the French vote "no", they will vote for all other Europeans", said one of the contributors. "This is "No" for concrete alternatives."

No reproductive rigths

Monika Karbowska from Poland said that the EU Constitution did not mention reproductive rights. The right to wedding was mentioned, but not the right to divorce or the right to live without marriage. Boriana Johnson continued that the constitution would bring greater militarization of the continent, and women would suffer from that as they were always victims in military conflicts. Feminists say that the constitution is deeply detrimental to women in many ways: it will bring more militarization instead of social security and the participation of common people in decision making will be reduced.

The constitution is imposed to small countries

Giorgios Katsabiouranis from Greece said that the constitution was imposed to small countries. Maria Velichkova from the Internet Rights Bulgaria Foundation explained that common people in Bulgaria were unaware to the debate about the new constitution and that they had lots of illusions related to the future accession of the country to the Union.

Miguel Portas from Portugal commented that the situation in Portugal was similar and the accession had turned out to be "marriage of interest not of love". He said that there was no referendum in his country because the political elites were afraid of it, so a French "no’ would open a real debate about the constitution in Europe.

European citizens have the right to be informed about political decisions and to participate in them. If there is a new constitution, it must be as good as possible for all - this can be defined as one of the conclusions of the conference.