Airstrip One

'Currency and Constitution': Britain's Exit Poll?

There have been a few entries on The Edge of Englands Sword and Conservative Commentary arguing that the move towards a European Constitution may also force Britain towards associate membership. The mechanism may be mandatory membership of the Euro, forcing a referendum in this country on both the currency and the constitution. It is hard to give credence to this argument at the moment as negotiations are still not firmed up but this, or a modification of the proposed "constructive abstentionist", may be adopted for the development of a two-speed Europe. UPI hears...

Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing was always known as a ladies' man (once colliding with a milk cart when returning to the Elysee Palace at dawn from a tryst), but at age 76 was assumed to be concerned mainly with running the constitutional convention on the future of the European Union. So what lay behind the mocking declaration "I love Penelope" after Friday's plenary session? Apparently "Penelope" (named after the faithful wife in Homer's Odyssey who remained true to Ulysses through his 20 years of wanderings) is the code-name EU Commission President Romano Prodi has given to his own secret draft of a new European constitution. "It's a very nice story but Penelope did not hide herself. She declared: 'I'm waiting for Ulysses'," Giscard went on. And then Giscard revealed that he knew that some of Prodi's commissioners were far from happy with the "Penelope" draft, adding: "This document has been repudiated, something which Ulysses never did." The most controversial clause in Prodi's secret draft is one designed to force the skeptical Brits to put up or shut up. It says any country that does not sign up for his highly federalist "Penelope" constitution should be deemed to have left the EU.