AMSTERDAM, June 1: Dutch voters rejected the European Union constitution on Wednesday, exit polls showed, deepening a crisis in the bloc and possibly dooming the treaty after fellow EU founding member France rejected it on Sunday. Interview/NSS projected the ‘No’ camp had won 63 per cent of votes based on an exit poll to 37 per cent for the ‘Yes’.

The resounding ‘No’ is the latest sign of Dutch anger with the political elite since the 2002 murder of anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn, with unease stoked by last year’s killing of a filmmaker critical of Islam. The rejection of the charter by the Netherlands, like France one of the six countries that founded the bloc in the 1950s, could deliver a fatal blow to the treaty designed to make the EU run better following its enlargement from 15 to 25 states.

It also casts doubt on the EU’s hopes for a more muscular foreign policy and its plans to expand further to the Western Balkans, Turkey and Ukraine, and raises questions about its appetite for economic reform amid mounting global competition. The euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar for more than seven months on Wednesday and has lost almost 10 per cent since March when polls turned negative on the treaty, which needs the approval of all members to go into force.

The Latvian parliament is expected to approve the treaty with a big majority on Thursday, meaning 10 members representing almost half the EU’s 454 million citizens will have approved it. British Prime Minister Tony Blair hinted after the French vote that the Dutch result could help determine whether he calls off a referendum next year in his euro-sceptic country.

While most Dutch were hostile to the constitution, they seemed keen to make their voice heard in the country’s first national referendum, with turnout seen much higher than the 39.1 per cent who voted in European Parliament elections last year. The Dutch vote is not legally binding, but lawmakers say they will be guided by it if turnout is over 30 per cent.—Reuters/ AFP