FRENCH OPPOSITION TO EU CHARTER DROPS IN LATEST POLL

PARIS, April 20 (AFP) -- A majority of French voters still say they will vote against the European constitution in a May 29 referendum, but support for the 'no' camp seems to be waning, according to an opinion poll released Wednesday.

The survey conducted by the CSA institute, to appear Thursday in Le Parisien newspaper, put the 'no' camp at 52 percent - a drop of four percentage points as compared with the last poll carried out by the same organisation.

Nevertheless, the poll was the 20th in a row over the past month to indicate that French voters could reject the landmark constitutional treaty in the May referendum.

EU CHIEF URGES FRANCE TO 'TRIUMPH OVER FEAR'

GENEVA, April 20 (AFP) -- European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday urged France to stay at the forefront of EU integration by saying "yes" to the bloc's constitution and "no" to a "chauvinistic vision" of Europe.

"The battle for Europe is the ability to say no to the mediocre, closed and chauvinistic vision," he told the students [at the University of Geneva].

Would that be a "OUI" or a "NON" for the EU constitution?

FRENCH 'NON' VOTE HITS RECORD HIGH IN POLL

PARIS, April 21 (AFP) -- Supporters of the constitution were briefly encouraged by a survey published Thursday in Le Parisien newspaper which for the first time in a month indicated that opposition was declining - from 56 percent to 52 percent in a week.

However a BVA poll for L'Express magazine released later in the day showed the "no" vote leaping forward to 58 percent, a five-point increase on a similar study carried out 10 days before and the strongest showing yet for opponents.

EU TRADE CHIEF WARNS FRENCH 'NO' WILL CAUSE CHAOS

AMSTERDAM, April 22 (AFP) -- A 'no' vote against the European constitution could cause chaos, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson warned here on Friday. ... "In case of a 'no', at best Europe will stagnate, at worst it will be chaos."

This is rich. The French "OUI" was supposed to be one of the few political certainties everyone agreed on -- including the French. A month ago. Today the French are rising up to throw off their own bloated invention, the grand and clumsy middle-management vision of Europa.

Will Jack pull his referendum? We seriously doubt he will let it fail at the ballot.

Politics is all timing. Our original take was Jack had decided to let the "NON" camp sprint ahead, peak too early, then Jack, with all the advantages of the sitting government, clomp clomp clomps, gaining winning inches, to May 29. But Jack appears not to have the wind to clomp ahead.

There is a certain point of inertial persistence in things, and Jack's "OUI" looks as impellent as a pig iron lawn jockey.