# What 2005 French event is he talking about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2007, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-2005-french-event-is-he-talking-about/396997 "2007-03-22T07:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-2005-french-event-is-he-talking-about/396997/1 "2007-03-22T07:01:09Z")
I kid you not, this is the first paragraph of a keynote address (given in April 2005) I have to edit this morning: > [@](#): > > The role of the state is being transformed, changed and challenged all over the world in various ways. This reflects a wide malaise. The “No” vote in the French referendum consists of about 60% which is a revolt against the state-of-affairs in general, and the state’s misgivings. In other words, it is a crisis of democracy and the constitution is the victim of circumstances. Furthermore, the Turks have been invited to wait for another round as they yet are not considered as part of Europe despite the fact that the Turkish Prime Minister signed the constitutional treaty in Italy. The second part I think I can sort out – I presume he’s talking about Turkey joining the EU. But what referendum is he referring to? (I guess I’ll sort out the facts using Google, but context would be nice.) And thus begins another day for CairoCarol, who will take take linguistic straw and weave it into rhetorical gold by day’s end… ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-2005-french-event-is-he-talking-about/396997/2 "2007-03-22T07:36:31Z")
I believe it’s referring to the proposed [EU Constitution](http://europa.eu/constitution/index_en.htm), which was rejected by French voters. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-2005-french-event-is-he-talking-about/396997/3 "2007-03-22T08:03:18Z")
Thanks! I’ll nose around the website to make sure, but it seems to fit the context, such as it is, of what he is saying. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-2005-french-event-is-he-talking-about/396997/4 "2007-03-22T08:20:44Z")
[QUOTE=St. Urho] I believe it’s referring to the proposed [EU Constitution](http://europa.eu/constitution/index_en.htm), which was rejected by French voters. [/QUOTE] I’d just like to say that on first reading, it was blatantly obvious to me that this was what he was talking about – as someone who probably reads more French newspapers than the average doper. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-2005-french-event-is-he-talking-about/396997/5 "2007-03-22T10:16:54Z")
[This link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4592691.stm) to a BBC article will probably tell you as much as you want to know :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-2005-french-event-is-he-talking-about/396997/6 "2007-03-22T11:02:59Z")
Ah, but the referendum took place in May 2005, whereas the keynote address was delivered in April. Never mind. Our speaker predicts the future (sort of … it was almost 55 percent, not more than 60 percent). ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-2005-french-event-is-he-talking-about/396997/7 "2007-03-22T11:25:06Z")
I think the opinion polls leading up to the vote showed about 60% for _Non_. The establishment was still shocked when the masses actually defied them, though. This wasn’t just a French issue, by the way. There were referenda in several EU countries, and another core member state, the Netherlands, also voted No. The British government probably breathed a sigh of relief at all this because they could now shelve their promised referendum, which looked likely to result in an embarrassing No vote too.