The usual reponses to the no in NL were that it reduced NL power in the union, followed by expression of dissatisfaction in the government coalition of the time. And, the "respectable" left parties there were for it, though shortly thereafter, one of the properly left parties, which had been against on grounds similar to those of us in France, had some serious electoral successes, so maybe there's hope after all.
In France, the fact it reduced actually exisiting rights and protections, played a predominant role in the referendum defeat. The PS was split in two on the wubject, most of the PS votes voted against, and all other parties on the left were against. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
As for attitudes, in my memory the right-wing side of the Dutch 'no' was due to a backlash against the euro, which was blamed for inflation and there were fears about the membership of the southern states, and there was a backlash against the opening of negotiations with Turkey.
Neoliberalism had little to do with it.
But I think it is outstanding that there is again a viable left party in NL. This is good news for all of us. Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
The SP indeed became a larger party only after the referendum. But its base had already expanded at that time.
To cherry pick on my side a bit, here's a short quote from this evaluation (pdf) of the Dutch referendum:
Looking at results per municipality, it shows that a majority voted no in 9 out of 10 municipalities. The municipalities which voted yes in majority are the richest municipalities of the country: Rozendaal (Gld.), Laren, Bloemendaal, Heemstede, Wassenaar, and the rich communities in Eindhoven. Municipalities which had a high percentage of no-voters were the fiercely Protestant localities, the leftwing Socialist localities and those that also voted in high numbers for Pim Fortuyn (`protest localities').
