If French voters reject the EU's first ever constitution on May 29, as recent polls suggest, it will largely be because the country's disgruntled electorate believes the charter will destroy Europe's beloved social model.

Rising unemployment, falling wages, Turkey's possible membership of the EU and the unpopularity of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's center-right government all help explain why support for the "yes" camp has plummeted in recent weeks. But the one rallying cry that unites both right- and left-wing opponents of the constitution is "Yes to a Social Europe!"

This slogan means different things to different people.

"In some countries, social cohesion means having the trade unions on board, and sustainable development means having Greenpeace on board," quipped the European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry Gunter Verheugen last week. "I tell people everywhere, 'You can have a strong economy without social cohesion. But you cannot have social cohesion -- whatever that is -- without a strong economy.'"

In France, a country wedded to short working hours, long holidays and high unemployment, such views are considered heretical. Given the choice between a strong economy and a generous welfare state backed up by first-class public services, most French would plump for the latter. Hence many voters' opposition to the EU constitution, which is perceived as being too "liberal," (in the classical sense), too free-trade oriented and too "Anglo-Saxon."

"Our ambition for a powerful and united Europe" will end up "drifting toward a large market open to all winds and politically diluted," wrote former prime minister and leading Socialist "non" campaigner Laurent Fabius last month. Fearing the constitution will put "an end to any social striving," Jacques Nikonoff, president of the influential pressure group Attac-France, says: "This crisis is the direct result of political choices made by EU governments and the European Commission, putting competitiveness and the market ahead of any other considerations, such as cooperation, solidarity and social justice."