"MOZART OF POLITICS" SOUNDS SOUR NOTES

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the man in charge of drafting the ill-fated EU constitution, is not a happy man and he's looking to lay, rather than accept, blame:

"This was not a vote on the constitution," Mr. Giscard d'Estaing said in his first interview since the French rejected it in a referendum last month. "That is the key point that has been missed by the political leaders, because political leaders don't normally like to say that the vote could have been against them."

Speaking in English in the library of his Paris home, he added, "The French message was, 'We want change in our political leadership.' "

Perhaps so, but the constitution itself was a problem:

"It is not possible for anyone to understand the full text."

Strangely, d'Estaing thought the constitution would be approved even though no-one could fully understand it:

Still, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing said that until the end he believed the French people would vote "yes," and pointedly criticized them. "I thought at the end the French people would be rational people," he said.

So, for voting against the incomprehensible behemoth of a constitution the French are irrational? Typical elitist thinking.

As proof that d'Estaing is out of touch with reality, he has this to say about the constitution no-one can understand:

Only two months ago, Mr. Giscard d'Estaing, a former French president, called the constitution "as perfect as, perhaps less elegant than, the Constitution of the United States of America."

Update: An excerpt from the EU constitution's Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union:

The peoples of Europe, in creating an ever closer union among them, are resolved to share a peaceful future based on common values.

Conscious of its spiritual and moral heritage, the Union is founded on the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity; it is based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law. It places the individual at the heart of its activities, by establishing the citizenship of the Union and by creating an area of freedom, security and justice.

The Union contributes to the preservation and to the development of these common values while respecting the diversity of the cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe as well as the national identities of the Member States and the organisation of their public authorities at national, regional and local levels; it seeks to promote balanced and sustainable development and ensures free movement of persons, services, goods and capital, and the freedom of establishment.

To this end, it is necessary to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights in the light of changes in society, social progress and scientific and technological developments by making those rights more visible in a Charter.

This Charter reaffirms, with due regard for the powers and tasks of the Union and the principle of subsidiarity, the rights as they result, in particular, from the constitutional traditions and international obligations common to the Member States, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Social Charters adopted by the Union and by the Council of Europe and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and of the European Court of Human Rights. In this context the Charter will be interpreted by the courts of the Union and the Member States with due regard to the explanations prepared under the authority of the Praesidium of the Convention which drafted the Charter and updated under the responsibility of the Praesidium of the European Convention.

Enjoyment of these rights entails responsibilities and duties with regard to other persons, to the human community and to future generations.

The US constitution starts off:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

One of the above is elegantly simple, the other is bureaucratic bullshit.