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France also has a constitutional mandate. Brown will try to avoid it with a little help from the Lib Dems. The Danes are asking for one, and there was a recent poll (I saw it in the Salon) saying that a majority of people in DE, FR, UK, IT and ES all wanted a referendum.

We have met the enemy, and it is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Oct 19th, 2007 at 06:23:00 AM EST
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The poll

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Fri Oct 19th, 2007 at 06:29:26 AM EST
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Less than 20% of respondents even knew what was in it.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Oct 19th, 2007 at 06:35:05 AM EST
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I bet you less than 40% of the parlamentarians who will vote to approve it know either. Not that they would admit to it, obviously...

We have met the enemy, and it is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Oct 19th, 2007 at 06:36:28 AM EST
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Hahahaha!...

Would Tony Bliar make a good full-time EU President?

25% Yes 75% No

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Fri Oct 19th, 2007 at 07:21:53 AM EST
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...but whether we'll get it is still up in the air. Fogh has been doing his damnedest to make sure that it's not constitutionally mandated, and I am of the distinct impression that he would prefer to simply ram it through parliament - fortunately his government doesn't have a working majority on Union policy (the Popular Party is euro-skeptic) so avoiding a referendum is going to require the co-operation of the opposition. It really comes down to whether the Social Democrats and Social Liberals think it'll hurt or help them in the coming general elections to hold a referendum. If either of those parties believe that not holding a referendum is beneficial domestically, the treaty can be rammed through parliament (although I'm not sure what the fallout for the current government would be vis-a-vis the Popular Party).

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Fri Oct 19th, 2007 at 10:20:24 AM EST
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Germans certainly won't get one.

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu
by Turambar (sersguenda at hotmail com) on Fri Oct 19th, 2007 at 12:06:47 PM EST
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