President Jacques Chirac said today he was confident French voters would back the European Union constitution in a referendum, despite opinion polls showing falling support for the treaty.
Mr Chirac came under pressure today to push more publicly for the treaty after a poll showed for the first time a majority against the treaty.
"I have confidence in our citizens," he told a news conference after talks with the leaders of Germany, Spain, and Russia.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder also said he was confident France would back the EU treaty aimed at making the 25-member EU work more smoothly.
Fifty-one per cent of voters who have decided how they will vote in France's May 28th referendum on the treaty plan to reject it, according to the poll in Friday's Le Parisien newspaper.
Still, 53 per cent intend to abstain, submit blank ballot papers, or have yet to make up their minds about a constitution that is aimed at making the 25-member EU work more smoothly.
"It is a real electric shock," French Labour Relations Minister Gerard Larcher told Europe 1 radio. "But I don't know of any difficulty that a man of spirit cannot transform into a victory."
The opposition Socialists urged Chirac to nail his colours to the mast. Since calling the referendum earlier this month, MR Chirac has largely refrained from entering the debate, leaving it to his government to campaign for a 'yes' vote.
"Since he is the one who negotiated and signed the treaty, it is up to him to present it and defend it before the French people," Socialist leader Francois Hollande told LCI television last night. "Francois Mitterrand did it at the time of the Maastricht Treaty" which brought the EU closer economic, political and social union, he added, referring to Chirac's Socialist predecessor.
As with the Maastricht Treaty, the EU constitution requires the approval of all member states and rejection by France could plunge the Union into crisis.
A date for voting in Ireland has not yet been decided.