Premier Raffarin: geen tweede Frans referendum na een 'non' (en)

The French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, has said there will not be a second referendum if France rejects the Constitution on Sunday.

Another referendum is "not a perspective that France could accept", he told TV channel BBC World on Tuesday (24 May).

"France will express itself, it will express itself once, there will be no second round or second chance. Once she has spoken, her message is clear", said Mr Raffarin.

The minister's statements follow speculations that the French may organise a second referendum, in case the Constitution is narrowly rejected on 29 May.

But "in France's democracy, there is no such thing as a 'little yes' and a 'little no'," Mr Raffarin said.

"What matters is victory. Be it 'yes' or 'no', the result cannot be contested. That's democracy", he added.

He also re-affirmed that there was no so-called plan B, but conceded that "if it is not this text" that is ratified, "there will be other texts, but texts that will come in a long time. Maybe 10 years will be needed", according to AFP.

The latest polls show that a majority of French citizens will reject the EU Constitution. A poll published in Tuesday's (25 may) Le Figaro put the no camp at 53 per cent.

But Mr Raffarin called for "prudence" over the predictions.

And after the referendum(s)?

The prime minister's own popularity has been decreasing among French citizens, with the latest polls granting him less than 30 per cent support.

However, Mr Raffarin has always refused to link his policy -or destiny- with the referendum's results.

"The no will not be a sanction for the government", he reportedly told BBC.

"The President of the Republic Jacques Chirac will decide in the forthcoming months how to organise his mandate. Of course, I have enough courage and lucidity to be able to put in place the orientations he will have chosen", the minister added.

Polls have also shown that the Dutch, to vote on the Constitution only two days after the French (on 1 June), are very likely to reject the document, with some surveys putting the Dutch no at 60 per cent.

Following the negative results of the polls, questions have begun to rise as to whether the ratification processes should carry on in other EU countries, if both the French and the Dutch reject the document.

But the EU's Luxembourg presidency has said other member states should carry on anyway.