EU in crisis

The rejection of the new constitution by French and Dutch voters has put the European Union in a damage-control mode, as leaders meet to decide what to do next. Further expansion now appears to be on hold. Might the prospect of Turkey's future membership have had something to do with the current impass? According to Constant Brand, writing in Macleans:

European politicians have started to raise doubts in public over the December decision on Turkey, raising fears in Ankara that their European ambitions might be shelved by the EU in the wake of the growing opposition at home and the crisis around the constitution.

Polls in France and the Netherlands showed that opposition to Turkey's membership was one of the key reasons voters gave for opposing the EU constitution.

Whatever the reasons for the negative votes, the results have forced European heads of government to reassess the half-century-old project for continental integration. The lesson? Élites cannot afford to take for granted the people they purport to lead.