NETHERLANDS: CAMPAIGNING FOR JUNE 1ST TAKES TO THE BEACH AS REFERENDUM ON THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION HOTS UP

Record ID: 347543

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: CAMPAIGNING FOR JUNE 1ST TAKES TO THE BEACH AS REFERENDUM ON THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTION HOTS UP
  • Date: 14th May 2005
  • Summary: (BN08) SCHEVENINGEN AND AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (MAY 14, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. GV: PEOPLE ON THE BEACH WITH BOATS SAILING IN THE BACKGROUND 0.05 2. GV: SCHEVENINGEN QUAY WITH DUTCH FLAGS 0.11 3. CU: HERRINGS IN A BASKET AND A WOMAN WITH LEAFLETS 0.17 4. LEAFLETS (READING: "REFERENDUM ON EU CONSTITUTION") WITH PASSERS-BY APPROACHING
  • Embargoed: 29th May 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SCHEVENINGEN AND AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Reuters ID: LVAGZGKSEYGUVDJNMBKY08PDH0A
  • Story Text: Dutch government campaigns for YES vote on June 1st Referendum by
    offering free herrings, while the new independent polls show up to 60 percent
    for NO vote.


    The political campaign for the referendum on the European constitution
    is heating up in the Netherlands. For the small socialist party D66, part
    of PM Balkenende's centre right governmental coalition, a weekend on
    the popular beach of Scheveningen is the right place to gain a few supporters
    for the YES vote, since 5000 Euros were allocated as campaign subsidies by the
    independent electoral commission for handing out free herring, a national
    delicacy, together with pamphlets explaining the treaty.

    The ever growing unpopularity of the single currency is fuelling the
    "No" vote in a Dutch referendum on the new European constitution.

    Opinion polls show Dutch voters are increasingly likely to reject the
    constitution in the referendum on June 1. In a recent poll for public
    television NOS, a third of those opposed said they would vote "No"
    because they were against the euro. A November poll conducted for the
    European Union found that only 39 percent of the Dutch believe the adoption of
    the single currency was advantageous for the Netherlands, the lowest number in
    the euro zone and compared to an average of 53 percent.

    Even Eda Enlegde, YES campaigner and D66 party member tends to
    agree.

    "The big stores took the euro to make things more expensive,"
    she said.

    "But you can't say that's because of Europe. That's what Dutch
    people did (to themselves). When you go to Germany, you can have a big meal
    for 6-7 euros. When you go to Holland, you have to pay 16-18 euros for
    it," she added.

    Foreign Minister Bernard Bot this week blamed the sluggish Dutch
    economy for opposition to the constitution, contrasting it with Dutch
    jubilation in 1997 when EU leaders agreed a treaty in Amsterdam that laid the
    foundations for the euro.

    The far-right New Right party, which is not represented in parliament,
    said last week that voters unhappy about the euro should use the referendum to
    express their feelings.

    "This referendum is not about the content of the
    Constitution, because almost nobody knows it right and there is a lot of
    confusing arguments about what it really means. It's maybe more about the fact
    that we did not have a referendum five years ago about the euro. Some people
    are angry about that, so they will vote now for what they wanted to vote five
    years ago," said Maurice De Hond, an independent poll analyst.

    Anti-euro campaign rides on a wave of media attention sparked by
    central bank executive director Henk Brouwer, who told Dutch newspaper Het
    Parool recently the guilder was 5 to 10 percent undervalued against the German
    mark when exchange rates to the euro were irrevocably fixed at the end of
    1998.

    Among voters' other most important reasons for planning to vote
    "No" in the latest poll were concerns that the Netherlands would
    lose influence in the EU compared to larger members like France and Germany.


    "I really think we should keep control of our own land, so we can
    save it, as we did in the past. We used to be a diamond country of Europe, and
    look at it now," one passer-by said.

    Immigration and Turkey are two other reasons to vote No.

    "The issue of the euro and the issue of Turkey are the same thing:
    in the Constitution there is nothing about whether Turkey can enter EU or not.

    Still, people think if they vote for the constitution, they vote for the
    entrance of Turkey in EU. But, that's not the issue," Jan Brink, a D66
    Yes campaigner said.

    Balkanende, whose centre-right government is deeply unpopular for the
    budget cuts it has made at a time of sluggish economic growth, has been
    criticized for a lacklustre campaign.

    The EU charter, which must be approved by all member countries, is
    intended to make the bloc work more smoothly following its enlargement to 25
    states a year ago.

    The Netherlands will vote 3 days after France.






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