The Irish Nice result presented a "historic chance" for Europe, the President of France said last night.
"It is essential that we all keep our eyes on the prize of a united Europe," Mr Jacques Chirac said, during a visit to the Middle East.
"We have a massive Yes from the Irish people, which opens the path to enlargement and thus the unity of our continent," he said.
Because the Nice Treaty was negotiated under French auspices, Paris was concerned that the legacy of its EU presidency two years ago would not be destroyed by an Irish No vote.
"C'est extraordinaire, c'est formidable," Mrs Noëlle Lenoir, the Minister for European Affairs said on hearing the results. "It's a very clear and positive message from the Irish people, not only concerning the future of Europe, but the future member-states. It's a signal that citizens have to be more involved with the future of Europe - their future." Mrs Lenoir said the Irish political parties who worked for a Yes vote carried out "a magnificent campaign". She discussed it with the President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, and they agreed that the Irish experience shows "the necessity of talking to people, of explaining Europe to them".
Mr Pierre Moscovici, Mrs Lenoir's predecessor as European Affairs Minister and now a member of the Convention that is drawing up a European constitution, said: "I rejoice in the Irish vote, most of all because it's a good thing for Europe." If Ireland had again rejected Nice "there would have been a terrible crisis, enlargement would have been delayed and complicated", he said. "Now the adventure can continue." It is often thought that Europeans are sceptical about integration, Mr Moscovici remarked. "The most precious political lesson is that when you make the effort to convince them, they change their mind. We must never resign ourselves to the idea that people are against Europe."
In a book published after the Nice summit, Mr Moscovici said that as European Affairs Minister he was made a "scapegoat" for the poor quality of the treaty, which he described as "the least bad possible". Yesterday, he said he was relieved "that we won't have to restart that infernal haggling, like rug merchants. We had to put it behind us." Nice was "the result of an extremely bitter negotiation", he said. It would not go down in history as a great treaty, but as an indispensable one, without which enlargement could not take place. The next treaty, now being prepared by the Convention and to be ratified around 2005, will be "the Great Treaty", he predicted.
Nice showed the limits of inter-governmental wrangling, Mr Moscovici said. In the Convention, the European Parliament and Commission are represented along with national governments. "I was a negotiator at Nice, and I'm a member of the Convention. It's not at all the same atmosphere. In the Convention, we've all put our cards on the table to move forward. In an inter-governmental conference, everyone hides his hand until the end - it's like poker."
Far from slowing down the Convention, as some French advocates of a No vote suggested, Mr Moscovici said the final ratification of the treaty by Ireland "liberates the Convention of the most materialistic, sordid aspects of the functioning of the EU. Now the Convention can devote itself to what is essential: the architecture of the future".
