French 'no' to referendum does not mean end of Europe: Romanian president

BUCHAREST - A French "no" in Sunday's referendum on the EU constitution does not mean Europe will come to an end, Romanian President Traian Basescu said, speaking shortly before exit polls said French voters had massively rejected the project.
"Europe will not come to an end in the case of a French 'no' on the constitutional treaty on the European Union," the president, whose country is on track to join the EU in 2007, said in an interview on the Realitatea TV channel.
Earlier on Sunday Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu had a "no" vote could make the EU judge more severely Romania's readiness to join the union.
Basescu said the only factor that would influence Romania's capacity to join "is our own capacity".
The CSA polling institute said the "no" camp had won an estimated 55.6 percent of the vote, the Ipsos institute put the figure at 55 percent, while Sofres said 54.5 percent had voted "no",
dealing a devastating blow to Europe's grand integration project.

05/29/2005 20:23 GMT