Will the foam-finger heads of France prevail?

The franchouilles, the Chicken Littles, the disgruntled strikers/workers, the disgruntled unions, the disgruntled chômeurs, the disgruntled pensioners, the disgruntled beurs, the hapless beurettes bereft of their hijabs, the disgruntled Socialists, the discontented-on-principle-alone Communists, Le Penistes, the disgruntled UMPers, the disgruntled splinters of the Left, the disgruntled splinters of the Right, the disgruntled without benefit of party, la France d’en-bas?

We think they will. And who should know better than the French – with some fifteen national constitutions (see our enumeration, comment No.21) to their credit – about the hazards of a ginned up French continental club with a French rulebook of hundreds of pages written by a French elitist* with a tarted-up second-estate name?

And we wish them well.

We are not fans of the EU constitution, which, instead of laying down principles and structures of governance, serves up a two-tonne supranational policy meringue atop its gooey custard of bureaucratic details.

In the bistro, dining on salade dauphinoise, the EU is harmless enough as conversation. We imagine most French dining concluded with the view that the EU made France a sort of continental neo-colonialist suzerain with a more manageable class of peuple attachant. But on paper its forbidding bulk, impenetrable wordiness, mysterious powers, and confusing cross-references and codicils rightfully have the French worrying that all-important France will become one in a string of nations queued up hat-in-hand trying to get a little consideration from Bruxelles – from Belgians! And no cutsies. No more passes on the Stability Pact. Bye-bye CAP bonanzas. Mon Dieu ! No French cultural exception!

George Will describes the EU constitution:

The proposed constitution, which is 10 times longer than the U.S. Constitution, ... has 448 articles -- 441 more than the U.S. Constitution. It is a jumble of pieties, giving canonical status to sentiments such as "the physical and moral integrity of sportsmen and sportswomen'' should be protected. It establishes, among many other rights, a right to "social and housing assistance'' sufficient for a "decent existence.'' Presumably, supranational courts and bureaucracies will define and enforce those rights, as well as the right of children to "express their views fully.''

The French are great innovators of new essential and inalienable rights, which hitherto we have somehow managed without.

The constitution says member states can "exercise their competence" only where the EU does not exercise its. But the constitution gives EU institutions jurisdiction over foreign affairs, defense, immigration, trade, energy, agriculture, fishing, and much more.

Go ahead, give it a good read.

Of course, OUI or NON, the French as spoilers enjoy all the attention. For the French, a nation of avid self-admirers, there is no such thing as attracting bad attention.

* Giscard d’Estaing thought his longueur so good, he admonished EU members not to alter a jot.

Speaking from the podium of the European parliament, Mr Giscard said he had some simple advice for the EU leaders he will present the draft to at next week's Salonika summit. "The closer you stick to our text the easier your task will be. It would be a political error if the document were allowed to unravel."

It's just that darn good.

[All emphases added.]