The French rejection of the European constitution: An empirical analysis

The French rejection of the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe on 29 May 2005 resulted from (1) fear of loss of national identity as a result of the European integration process and (2) the voters' sanction of the French government's record. Using cross-section data covering the 96 French metropolitan departments, we estimate referendum vote functions in order to assess the effects of these influences on the outcome of the referendum. Estimated coefficients are compared with estimates from the 1992 Maastricht referendum.