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The PR campaign to get the Dutch to vote in favor of the European constitution is run so incredibly bad that I wonder if it's their intention to get a no vote. For example:
Did anyone think of the symbolism of inviting a German foreign minister on Dutch PBS to threaten us with another pan-European war, keeping in mind which country started the last two, and also considering this particular minister was in league with a terrorist group (the Rote Armee Fraktion) right until the moment it started to use violence? Now I don't mind the Germans - heck, when studying in Dublin, I had a German roommate - but I'm 29. There's still a sizeable number of people there that lived through at least part of WWII, and got raised in an anti-German atmosphere. They might not take so kindly to Joschka Fischer telling them what to do.
Neither does it seem wise to have the Belgian prime minister trying to convince us we will lose influence in the EU if we don't go along with the constitution (never mind that agreeing to this constitution will do that, not voting against it) and threaten (there seem to be very few real arguments in favor, at least, I don't hear the proponents using them) the constitution might still go along even if we vote 'no'. Yeah, antagonize the Dutch even more will help. Incidentally, the results of the interview were accessible on the news service of cell provider Vodafone before it was alleged to take place, but otherwise than that, fair Dutch people, you're not observing a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign, and you should trust denials of your government to that effect. Verhofstadt and Fischer regularly get involved in Dutch political affairs, like when... er...
Come to think of it, the government slogan to promote Europe is 'Europa, best belangrijk'. This translates to 'Europe, well, I guess it's kinda important' and the slogan was widely ridiculed.
Minority (Labour) leader Wouter Bos now says he wants a second referendum if the first one doesn't provide him with the 'yes' vote he desires. It's not that they don't take their constituents seriously, mind you, it's just that they, as our shepherds, want to make sure we make the right choice - no matter how long it takes... Unless, of course, we can also have a second referendum if the result is a 'yes'.
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