The pressure on French President Jacques Chirac to hold a referendum on the European constitution increased on Monday after his party voted in favour of the poll.
The national executive of the center-right UMP voted to campaign for a referendum in the run-up to the European elections on June 10 to 13, although the head of the party, Chirac's close ally Alain Juppe, made sure that the words "while respecting the constitutional prerogatives of the president" were included in the motion.
The ruling council's decision followed a typically forthright speech from Chirac's ambitious rival on the opposite wing of the party, Minister of Finance Nicolas Sarkozy.
"Popular opinion must be consulted at every major stage of European integration," Sarkozy told the executive on Sunday night.
"I simply do not see how it can be possible to tell the French people that the European constitution is a major step, and then to just assume that it can be adopted by parliamentarians without making the effort to consult French public opinion directly," he said.
Almost all of the French political class, from the Euro-sceptic, pro-sovereignty Movement for France to the far-left Workers' Struggle, agrees with the Communist leader Marie-Georges Buffet that "democratically and morally" a referendum is "the only acceptable decision."
Opinion polls show that most French people want the chance to vote on the issue, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to hold a referendum has increased the pressure.
The French president's office said on Monday that despite this, Chirac felt it was "still too soon" to decide how France should ratify the future EU constitution.
"The president will make his decision when the time has come. It has not come yet," the Elysee palace said.
Under the constitution, French presidents have a choice between two ratification methods: a national plebiscite, or a vote by both houses of parliament.
Chirac has said he will make his mind up once the final text of the constitution has been agreed by EU leaders, probably a few days after the elections.
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