THE FRENCH no vote on the European Union constitution, and similar votes in other countries, will have no impact on Bulgaria's accession to the European Union, French ambassador Yves Saint-Geours has told The Sofia Echo.
And the Netherlands ambassador, Baroness Henriette van Lynden, has said that if Bulgaria's EU accession was to be delayed, it would not be because of a no vote on the EU constitution. Exit polls on June 1 indicated that the Netherlands was to follow suit in voting against the EU constitution.
Saint-Geours, asked to comment by The Echo on the outcome of the May 29 rejection by French voters of the EU constitution, said: "During the campaign, there was no debate about the enlargement of the EU to include Bulgaria."
According to Saint-Geours, the outcome of the referendum would not have an impact on the expected accession date, January 1, 2007.
"I have no doubt about the ratification by the French parliament of the accession treaty," he said. "The only risk of a delay is if Bulgaria does not meet its commitments."
He said that the French refusal seemed to be more related to the functioning of the EU, than to its expansion, but the government in Paris would still have to take into account the vote of the French people.
"The process of ratification of the constitution will follow in the other countries," Saint-Geours said. "It's a long process, for a treaty negotiated by 25 countries. The other European countries must respect the French decision, but France must respect the decision of the other countries."
Saint-Geours said that the negative French vote was not a vote against Europe.
"But I'm convinced that this vote expresses strong concerns about the way the EU is acting, and perplexity about the significance of the European project today," he said.
Italian ambassador Gian Campagnola, in an interview with The Echo (full text, pages 9 to 12) said that while the result of the French referendum was unfortunate, the future should be faced with optimism. The European project would not come to a halt.
European Commission spokes-person Francois Le Bail said that EU enlargement was not dependent on the ratification of the European constitution. "The ratification process and the enlargement process are two different processes," Le Bail said.
In an interview with daily newspaper Dnevnik, Dutch ambassador Van Lynden said that the outcome of the French referendum should not be dramatised, and the EU was not collapsing.
Foreign Minister Solomon Passi told journalists on May 30 that "the European process, European reintegration, Europe's unification, is a long-term strategic process which cannot be hindered by any single referendum". He said he regretted the outcome of the European constitution referendum in France, but added that Europe would overcome the effect of the "no" vote in that country.
"The outcome of the referendum in France, however, confirms the truth which we in Bulgaria already knew four years ago," he said. "We knew that the hurdles along the way would increase, and the sooner we completed the negotiations with the EU, the better the results of these negotiations. In this referendum, we see proof that we have been on the right track, and we need to keep up the fast pace of advancing towards EU membership in the next 18 months."
According to Passi, the next 18 months will be of utmost importance to Bulgaria. "Therefore, we must keep up the pace of reforms and Bulgaria's policy," he said.
European Affairs Minister Meglena Kuneva said that the French "no" meant that now Bulgaria should speed up reforms and work even harder.
"Bulgaria will be accepted as a member of the EU regardless of whether the European constitution will come into force or not," Government spokesperson Dimitar Tsonev said at a briefing on May 30.
Tsonev said that what had happened in France showed the correctness of the Government's policy in quickly concluding negotiations and in achieving the signing of the accession treaty on April 25 2005.
According to Union of Democratic Forces deputy leader Nikolai Mladenov, the next government should concentrate its efforts both on meeting the commitments undertaken by Bulgaria, and on an awareness campaign in Europe about what Bulgaria would bring to the EU through its membership.