Chirac ready to turn his anger on Blair if France votes Non
By Toby Helm, Chief Political Correspondent
The Daily Telegraph

What's all the fuss about?

Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac will be pitched into a furious six-month dispute over the future direction of the European Union if the French people vote No to the EU constitution tomorrow.

Government sources are braced for the French president to round on the Prime Minister and blame him for making the constitution too "Anglo-Saxon" on economic issues and for plunging Europe into crisis as a result. The French people go to the polls on Sunday

They also expect Mr Chirac to launch a fresh assault on Britain's £3 billion rebate from the EU budget.

British diplomats believe that Mr Chirac will call for France, Germany and other nations to form a "core Europe" in which they can push ahead with integration without being held back by laggards such as Britain.

However, Mr Blair and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, want to use Britain's six-month EU presidency, which begins on July 1, to argue that eurozone economies need flexible British and American-style economies rather than heavy regulation and tax harmonisation.

Speaking in Rome yesterday after talks with Silvio Berlusconi, his Italian counterpart, before the G8 summit in July, Mr Blair described economicreform as "essential".

He said: "The big issue that faces our citizens now in Europe is how do weincrease our prosperity in an era of globalisation, in an era of intense competition - not just within Europe but outside Europe."

Mr Blair is spending the bank holiday in a Tuscan villa with his wife,Cherie, and son, Leo, five. Downing Street would not confirm that the Blairs were staying as guests of Prince Girolomo Strozzi near Sienna.

Government officials say Mr Blair will give no quick response about the implication for a British referendum of a French No. Ministers are expected to hold emergency discussions with their EU counterparts and the European Commission before any decisions are taken.

A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph today finds that 42 per cent of voters believe that, even if the French say No, a referendum should go ahead here because relations with the EU are so important.