EU CONSTITUTION: FRENCH SOCIALISTS' 'YES' LIFTS PRO-CONSTITUTION CAMP.

A spokeswoman for European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was "pleased by the positive result which seemed to augur well for the Constitution". She added that France was an "indispensable element for the construction of Europe" and that the vote would have a "wider resonance" for all of Europe. The Yes vote was also hailed by Valery Giscard d'Estaing, President of the Convention which drew up the draft Constitution on which the text agreed by EU leaders in June was based. He called the result a "great step forward towards the definitive adoption of the Constitution by referendum". The former French President added that the decision would be welcomed in Europe as the "confirmation of the founding commitment of France for the European Union".

Francois Hollande, PS Secretary-General, who decided to hold the party referendum to resolve internal splits, said the outcome was a "victory for Europe" and a victory for the PS which would allow it to "remain true to its ideals and to its European allies". Prior to the vote, pro-Constitution forces inside the party and in its European sister Socialist parties had warned that a No vote would have isolated the French Socialists within the pan-European Socialist movement.

Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, said that there could "no longer be any doubts as to the attitude of French Socialist Party on this issue". He called it a "good step forward for ratification of the constitution both in France and in Europe". He also claimed it was "good news" for "progressive forces in Europe". "Contrary to the scare stories put out by the more extreme sceptics, the draft Constitution contains real democratic advances, particularly on social questions", he said, referring to the criticisms of the Constitution made by the leader of the No campaign within the PS, Laurent Fabius.

Alain Lamassoure (EPP-ED, France), spokesman for UMP MEPs in the Parliament, called the outcome "good news for Europe". Graham Watson, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), expressed his group's relief at the result, saying that "beyond legitimate concerns on the course of current policies", it showed that French Socialists were aware that the "pursuit of deepening of European construction constitutes a non-partisan national priority". The joint President of the Green/European Free Alliance group, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, said the Socialists' Yes was "positive...