Normandy and the EU constitution

Angela Doland:

This little Normandy town of smokestacks, refineries and high unemployment is proud to have delivered the most resounding "Non!" of all in France's referendum on the European Union constitution.

Just under 88 percent of its voters went against the charter, putting their weight into a French punch that knocked the future of European integration into doubt.

People here say they are not against Europe. But they worried the charter would usher in unfettered capitalism, and they don't like that some jobs at local oil refineries go to workers from Poland, Portugal and other poor EU members when the town's 18 percent jobless rate is already far beyond the 10.2 percent national average.

"This is not about xenophobia," said Philippe Saunier, director of a local union. "But people see this and say, 'This is not the Europe we want for the future.'"

Temporary refinery workers from elsewhere in Europe are willing to work for longer and for less money, Saunier said. Foreigners often put in 12-hour days to earn $610-$980 a month, he said, while minimum pay for a French worker is $1,600 a month, based on a 35-hour week.

Voting "no" was a matter of civic pride, a rejection of a vision of Europe's future that people here say was dreamed up by bureaucrats at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, with scant regard for workers' concerns.

"We have to take care of our country before any others," said Paul Maurel, a 68-year-old retiree. "They send Poles here to work, and then we move our factories over there because it's cheaper. It's abhorrent."

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