EU Don't Say

Voters in the Alsace region of France may reject the new European Constitution (hooray!) - but some of the arguments against it seem to miss the point entirely:

"Because salaries and taxes are not harmonized in Europe, poorer countries with lower taxes can attract capital, and that puts pressure on us to lower taxes," said Adrien Zeller, president of Alsace's regional council. "But we can't lower taxes because we have expensive social services to maintain."

Those sentiments are complicating the [French] government's campaign to win support for the European constitution, which will strengthen Europe's institutions and underpin future Europe-wide laws. Support for the constitution has been increasing slowly in response to a government-led campaign, but the latest opinion polls still suggest that the May 29 referendum could be a tossup.