Madam, - The French rejection of the EU constitution is, above all else, a statement that "we are not afraid". As such, it echoes the speeches of Martin Luther King.
We should celebrate this deliverance: Europe deserves a better constitution, one that will liberate it from the tyranny of the US capitalist model, not institutionalise it.
Let us start again to write a constitution fit for a democratic, multinational Europe. Let us search first for a European visionary, not a discredited cold warrior, to lead this process. And when we vote on it, let all citizens of the new constitutional Europe vote on the same day.
The status quo in Europe is not working, the French voters have just reminded us that "the point is to change it". The French have already got liberty; they just didn't see why they, and the rest of Europe, should give up the aspiration to equality and fraternity. We can do better than this, they said, and they are right. - Yours, etc,
SIMON McGUINNESS,
St Joseph's Cottages,
Ashtown,
Dublin 7.
A chara, - What struck me about the debate in France on the European constitution was the clear picture that emerged of the state of French politics and society. The word that best describes it is paralysis.
France has not accepted its diminished position in Europe and the world. It has failed to accept the reality of globalisation.
The response to new problems - such as the flow of work to poor countries, and a brain drain to richer ones - is to dig in, to look back, and to evoke the period of post-war prosperity and progress. Even after 15 years of high unemployment, neither the political élite nor the people in general are prepared to swallow the bitter pills that are necessary for a recovery.
The current social model, though bulging at the seams and depriving three million of a job, is held to be sacred. Britain's social model is rejected out of hand.
To suggest there might be some middle way, some workable compromise with the liberal market economy, is seen as ultra-liberal and a surrender of French values. The plague would be more welcome than competition.
The mainstream parties have lacked the courage to tell people exactly where France now stands.
They are good at making promises but very bad at delivering reality checks. Their continued failure to align French expectations with circumstance is prolonging the stasis. People have lost faith in the political élite and now believe the solution lies elsewhere. Many voters are turning to the extremes, both left and right.
With one of Europe's pioneers so deeply wounded it is difficult to see where it goes from here. One thing is certain: the days of French leadership are over. - Is mise,
CIARÁN MAC AONGHUSA,
Nice,
An Fhrainc.
Madam, - The French prime minister has resigned following the electorate's rejection of the EU constitution.
How he must wish he plied his trade in Ireland - a country where a rejection by the electorate of an EU referendum is seen as a mere aberration which can always be ignored - and the question put again to the contrary voters until the "right" answer is extracted. - Is mise,
MUIRIS MAC GEARAILT,
Bramley Park,
Dublin 15.
Madam, - In the light of France's comprehensive rejection of the EU constitution, the fragility and callowness of much of the official European left is thrown into stark relief.
There is little doubt that the driving force behind the No vote is a distaste for the free-market policies at the centre of the constitution, as well as the vacuous bureaucratic rituals that accompanied it (not to mention the document's nascent militarism). Yet among much of the institutional left, the popular vote was received with much sighing and shaking of heads, a muted shock at the sheer irresponsibility of the people.
Thus, having deftly mortgaged its principles to assume office, the left is now faced with its own startling moral and ideological bankruptcy.
The Party of European Socialists, having failed to swathe the constitution in the emollient rhetoric of "co-operation" and a more vaguely "social" Europe, and having been thoroughly rebuked at the polls, now needs to rethink its chronic adhesion to the neo-liberal centre. There is now new terrain, prised open by the French result, and it offers ample space to reframe notions of justice and equality in modern Europe.
If it can tap the vein of popular discontent, now may be time for the left to resurrect its most enduring of ideas: that of the popular front. - Yours, etc,
SEAN COLEMAN,
Brian Avenue,
Marino,
Dublin 3.