In an interview, Jean-Pierre Raffarin is giving his take on the constitution.

For the first time, Europe has a shared Constitution. This pact is the point of no-return. Europe is becoming an irreversible project, irrevocable after the ratification of this treaty. It is a new era for Europe, a new geography, a new history.

We often accuse the EU of wanting to be a totalitarian state when it grows up, but I didn't expect them to start changing history so soon. What changes will be made to the legacy of Mrs T, I wonder. In addition, those that like irrevocable, the treaty is for you. Those that believe that a changing world makes permanence dangerous, oh you are so backward.

Which parts of the text seem the most important to you? I think that there are two fundamental new perspectives. First of all, it is a Constitution, a common law that is binding on all of us. From Tocqueville to Raymond Aron, the French have always wanted the law to be a source of liberty.

My understanding of the phrase common law is of course different. Only a Frenchman can regard the law as the source of liberty. I consider liberty as a natural state, with the purpose of the law being to uphold that liberty. As EU law is mostly concerned with restricting freedom, the exisitence of a European Union Constitution as a source of liberty is a twisted notion indeed.

...we must reorganise the UN for more rights, we must rethink the WTO for more justice, and we must create a global environment organisation for more respect of the planet.

In other words, more nannying, more intrusion. In respect of the UN, the Oil for Fraud scandal along with inaction over Iraq shows what a great organisation that is. As for Justice, I've said it before, the poor need truly free trade, not global socialism. In terms of the environment, The Commons Blog can tackle that issue much better than I can. More outstanding comments include:

Social Europe is an ambition that we must keep to heart.

The ist is missing, I keep seeing references to Socialist Europe by politicians who forget the ist. I can't understand why.

Our social model is among the most advanced in Europe. But we will need time to impose it!

How a leader of a socially and politically bankrupt system can make such a claim is beyond me. France's social model depends on massive pillage on behalf of the state, companies which are run by unions, politicians who see corruption as the normal way to do business, the banishing of non whites into ghettos of crime and hopelessness and the blatant stealing of money from the nations of Europe to keep its farmers in hay. This is the advanced system that Monsieur Raffarin wishes to Impose (His words not mine) on the rest of us. Come the referendum, don't say you haven't been warned.