Chirac on the spot over EU referendum calls

President Jacques Chirac faces growing pressure to put the European Union's constitution to a risky referendum in France after Prime Minister Tony Blair's pledge to give Britons the final say on the charter.

With many French voters unnerved about the EU's future direction, such a referendum could produce a "No" vote that would hold up the constitution and mar any hopes Mr Chirac has of a third term, analysts said yesterday.

"(Mr) Chirac must be cursing (Mr) Blair," said Heather Grabbe, deputy director of the London-based Centre for European Reform (CER) think-tank.

"This creates moral pressure on him to do the same. But a referendum would be dangerous for (Mr) Chirac because it would come before the 2007 presidential election. If the French said 'No' it could seriously harm his stature," she said.

After Mr Blair's policy U-turn on Tuesday, Mr Chirac's centre-right government reasserted its right to decide for itself how France will ratify a charter that will define the shape and workings of the EU after it expands to 25 states.

Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said a decision on whether to use a plebiscite or parliamentary vote would be made only after a final accord on the text, expected at a June summit.

But Mr Blair's move triggered demands from France's right-wing political fringe, which opposes strong EU institutions, and from the opposition left that Paris follow suit.

"This is the first time in my life I regret not being English," Philippe de Villiers, leader of the small eurosceptic Movement for France (MPF) party told Europe 1 radio, adding that Mr Blair was right to call the referendum.

Opposition Socialists agreed that the French will expect to have a say on a constitution text they say ignores areas such as promoting job creation and reinforcing welfare safeguards.

"In Britain, referendums are rare. In France, they are the rule. I don't see how we can deprive people of the right to have a say. It would be a denial of democracy," Socialist Pierre Moscovici, a former European affairs minister, told Liberation newspaper.

If Mr Chirac opts for a referendum, he can - unlike Blair - count on the pro-European stance of most voters and the media.

But the razor-thin referendum "Yes" to ratification in 1992 of the Maastricht treaty, which extended EU powers and ushered in the euro single currency, argued for caution.

"It's winnable. But it needs to be well prepared. And the issue of Turkey's entry into the EU must be kept out of it," said Florence Deloche-Gaudez of the Centre for International Studies and Research (CERI) in Paris.

French public opinion is not only opposed to the entry of east European states next week but harbours doubts about any accession by Turkey, which awaits a decision by EU leaders in December on whether entry negotiations will be launched.

The CER's Grabbe said that if Mr Chirac does decide to go for a referendum, he could try to keep such concerns out of the vote by firmly coming down against Turkish membership.