Comments on: French Referendum Poll Update http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/the-european-union/french-referendum-poll-update/ European Opinion Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:36:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: eulogist http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/the-european-union/french-referendum-poll-update/#comment-7960 eulogist Tue, 03 May 2005 20:59:22 +0000 http://fistfulofeuros.net/wordpress/?p=1260#comment-7960 There is indeed not as much media attention for the EU Constitution in the Netherlands as there as in France. The level of the debate is also correspondingly lower. De Telegraaf (a rather populist and popular, but pro-EU daily) has no dossier on the EU Constitution. However, the leftist Volkskrant does have one at http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/1065417260979.html, centrist-liberal NRC Handelsblad (www.nrc.nl) has one hidden behind its paywall, and public broadcaster NOS has one at http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/dossiers/europesegrondwet/_eu_grondwet_dossieroverzicht.html. A very good public site is http://www.grondweteuropa.nl/ There is indeed not as much media attention for the EU Constitution in the Netherlands as there as in France. The level of the debate is also correspondingly lower.
De Telegraaf (a rather populist and popular, but pro-EU daily) has no dossier on the EU Constitution. However, the leftist Volkskrant does have one at http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/1065417260979.html, centrist-liberal NRC Handelsblad (www.nrc.nl) has one hidden behind its paywall, and public broadcaster NOS has one at http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/dossiers/europesegrondwet/_eu_grondwet_dossieroverzicht.html.

A very good public site is http://www.grondweteuropa.nl/

]]> By: Doug http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/the-european-union/french-referendum-poll-update/#comment-7959 Doug Tue, 03 May 2005 20:39:10 +0000 http://fistfulofeuros.net/wordpress/?p=1260#comment-7959 stemwijzers => voting guides (roughly) stemwijzers => voting guides (roughly)

]]> By: Edward http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/the-european-union/french-referendum-poll-update/#comment-7958 Edward Tue, 03 May 2005 17:54:03 +0000 http://fistfulofeuros.net/wordpress/?p=1260#comment-7958 "I hope aFoE's multilinguist talents carry this far" Unfortunately mine certainly don't. Following one of your links I eventually found myself at http://www.europeesreferendum.nl/ From there I found my way to De Telegraaf where I was able to work out that Ajax star Nigel De Jong may now be in the 'orbit' of Man United, and I was able to click a button which lead me to Cruijff.com (and as a keen Bar?a fan anything associated with Johann is naturally of interest: bring on Van Bommel :) ). What I couldn't find was any systematic dossier on the EU referendum. Perhaps I was directed to the wrong paper: there must presumeably be a better one in this connection? What I think I am ironically trying to suggest is that while I am very sympathetic to the suggestion that attention over the constitution is being unduly focused on France, one of the reasons for this may be linguistic deficiencies, and to overcome this gap we need our Dutch readers top keep us informed “I hope aFoE’s multilinguist talents carry this far”

Unfortunately mine certainly don’t. Following one of your links I eventually found myself at http://www.europeesreferendum.nl/

From there I found my way to De Telegraaf where I was able to work out that Ajax star Nigel De Jong may now be in the ‘orbit’ of Man United, and I was able to click a button which lead me to Cruijff.com (and as a keen Bar?a fan anything associated with Johann is naturally of interest: bring on Van Bommel :) ). What I couldn’t find was any systematic dossier on the EU referendum. Perhaps I was directed to the wrong paper: there must presumeably be a better one in this connection?

What I think I am ironically trying to suggest is that while I am very sympathetic to the suggestion that attention over the constitution is being unduly focused on France, one of the reasons for this may be linguistic deficiencies, and to overcome this gap we need our Dutch readers top keep us informed

]]> By: David http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/the-european-union/french-referendum-poll-update/#comment-7957 David Tue, 03 May 2005 17:23:27 +0000 http://fistfulofeuros.net/wordpress/?p=1260#comment-7957 Anyone feel like correcting some embarrassing mistakes? Anyone feel like correcting some embarrassing mistakes?

]]> By: David http://fistfulofeuros.net/afoe/the-european-union/french-referendum-poll-update/#comment-7956 David Tue, 03 May 2005 17:18:24 +0000 http://fistfulofeuros.net/wordpress/?p=1260#comment-7956 Here in the Netherlands very little has happened. A couple of weeks ago, an independent committee dispensed the grand total of one million euros to various campaigns. The largest amount (50,000) went to a Yes-campaign, drawing boos from no-campaigners as they reckon the powers that be favoured Yes-campaign in general, and those involving well-known politicians in specific. Those organisations that received subsidies are bound to very strict rules. They may not pay salaries or travel expenses etc to people working for them. Most of the many must be spent on ads and campaign materials: pledge cards, buttons, stickers. I think most Yes-campaigns officially kicked off last weekend, but the No-campaigns have been gathering steam for much longer. The Socialist Party's (SP) campaign seems most appealing, others, such as by hairdo offender Geert Wilders, are shooting themselves in the foot, imho. Their arguments run along lines that I mostly hear in cafes. The arguments are bitter and inconsistent. Also there has been some fuss about stemwijzers, these online questionnaires that help you find out what to vote for, and for which my brain won't surrender the English word. Depending on what camp made the questionnaire, the outcome was always more in favour or more opposed to the constitution. It was both due to formulation of the questions and down right biased programming. The biggest problem so far may be that it is hip to be against the constitution. It would help the Yes-campaign if someone came up with a 'cool' image in favour of... Finally, it is awfully hard to make up your mind by visiting different campaign sites. Especially, the government site www.grondweteu.nl and the SP site (via www.sp.nl) excell at confusing the undecided voter with their respective top tens. In areas of military spending, animal rights (wtf!) and the influence of Brussels they seem to draw exactly the opposite conclusions. There is no telling who is being less economic with the truth. See also (I hope aFoE's multilinguist talents carry this far): www.grondwetnee.org www.betereuropa.nl Here in the Netherlands very little has happened. A couple of weeks ago, an independent committee dispensed the grand total of one million euros to various campaigns. The largest amount (50,000) went to a Yes-campaign, drawing boos from no-campaigners as they reckon the powers that be favoured Yes-campaign in general, and those involving well-known politicians in specific.

Those organisations that received subsidies are bound to very strict rules. They may not pay salaries or travel expenses etc to people working for them. Most of the many must be spent on ads and campaign materials: pledge cards, buttons, stickers.

I think most Yes-campaigns officially kicked off last weekend, but the No-campaigns have been gathering steam for much longer. The Socialist Party’s (SP) campaign seems most appealing, others, such as by hairdo offender Geert Wilders, are shooting themselves in the foot, imho. Their arguments run along lines that I mostly hear in cafes. The arguments are bitter and inconsistent.

Also there has been some fuss about stemwijzers, these online questionnaires that help you find out what to vote for, and for which my brain won’t surrender the English word. Depending on what camp made the questionnaire, the outcome was always more in favour or more opposed to the constitution. It was both due to formulation of the questions and down right biased programming.

The biggest problem so far may be that it is hip to be against the constitution. It would help the Yes-campaign if someone came up with a ‘cool’ image in favour of…

Finally, it is awfully hard to make up your mind by visiting different campaign sites. Especially, the government site http://www.grondweteu.nl and the SP site (via http://www.sp.nl) excell at confusing the undecided voter with their respective top tens. In areas of military spending, animal rights (wtf!) and the influence of Brussels they seem to draw exactly the opposite conclusions. There is no telling who is being less economic with the truth.

See also (I hope aFoE’s multilinguist talents carry this far):

http://www.grondwetnee.org
http://www.betereuropa.nl

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