Les Hollandais et l’indépendance nationale

Les Hollandais votent demain. Le “non” semble devoir l’emporter. L’influence du vote français de dimanche sera importante pour les électeurs, mais sans doute moins qu’on pourrait l’estimer dans la passion de ces deux derniers jours. Du point de vue des derniers arguments de campagne, au contraire, le vote français joue un rôle considérable sinon exclusif.

Il s’agit de l’argument final des partisans du “oui”. Assez curieusement, alors que les critiques anti-françaises, y compris en Hollande chez les partisans du “oui”, reposent sur l’accusation de nationalisme, cet “argument final” de ces adversaires du nationalisme repose entièrement sur un appel au nationalisme hollandais. Au nom de l’indépendance de la Hollande et dans les termes les plus primaires, comme s’il s’agissait d’une vulgaire plaidoirie populiste, il s’agit de ne pas suivre la France, jusqu’à cette étonnante affirmation du ministre des affaires économiques Brinkhorst : « We are not a province of France, we are an independent country. »

Dans The Independent d’aujourd’hui, cette référence quasi-permanente à la France, au vote de dimanche et à l’indépendace nationale: « Still reeling from the French ‘no’ and the latest bleak opinion poll forecasts, all the main Dutch political leaders are pulling out all the stops ahead of the vote tomorrow.

» Jan Peter Balkenende, the Prime Minister, put on a brave face, arguing: “We must not let ourselves be influenced by the French; their ‘no’ is even more of a reason for us to vote ‘yes’. The Economic Affairs Minister, Jan Brinkhorst, added: “We are not a province of France, we are an independent country. To look to events in France and think that we should also vote 'no' would be a very short-sighted vision.”

» A prominent diplomat in The Hague said: “It seems highly probable that this country will vote ‘no’. But if there had been a French ‘yes’ and a Dutch ‘no’, it would have been even worse because of the isolation and the uphill battle to re-establish our position in Europe; you could say we have now slipped through the eye of the needle, as it were.”

» Wouter Bos, the leader of the opposition Labour PvdA, argued that there was no reason “why the Dutch should also reject the constitution — as both left and right-wing voters in France said ‘no’”.

» Boris van der Ham, an MP with the Democrat D66 party, called on the Netherlands to exercise its historic position of independence by voting in favour, thus refusing to be influenced by the French. “Doing so is the only way to reduce the €40bn (£27bn) in agriculture subsidies and the Dutch contribution to the EU budget”, he said. »

Mis en ligne le 31 mai 2005 à 07H50