'PRETENTIOUS, PROPAGANDA' EU vote looms in Spain, writes EUPolitix:

Madrid is running scared of debate as a Spanish vote on the EU constitution looms, warns Íñigo Méndez de Vigo MEP.

The Spanish centre-right MEPis a leading campaigner for a ‘si’ vote and a supporter of a referendum on the EU constitution.

But the European Parliament’s co-rapporteur on the new EU treaty is less than impressed with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s “pretentious” choice of referendum date.

And the Partido Popular MEP believes the Socialist Madrid government is ducking debate – a situation that could be a key factor in a poll expected to be dominated by don’t knows and don’t cares.

“I would not say it is an error to hold a referendum. I would say it is an error to hold it on February 20. And I think is a political error not to inform and to avoid debate,” he told EUpolitix.com.

Mendez de Vigo has learned two lessons – and indicted Zapatero’s government on two counts.

He fears that the referendum will be marred by the date, with February’s cold winter weather deterring voters.

“The first lesson is that a government should never call a referendum on February 20. That is the first reason and the Spanish government has done it for only propaganda reasons. To say ‘we had the first in Europe’,” he said.

“Politically they wanted this date to show how European they were, to show it in a very pretentious way.”

Méndez de Vigo suggests, an uneasy ruling Socialist parliamentary coalition with left-wing ‘non’ campaigners has stifled debate – a pre-condition to an informed referendum.

“The government only wants to give information and does want to hold any debate. The government doesn’t want to appear in public with its parliamentary associates, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and the Communist Party.”

“These parties call for a no vote in the referendum. The government does not want to show this contradiction so there are no, or very few, debates. People get information through debates and hear all the positions, this is not the case. Therefore there is a lack of information and an absence of debate, which in my view is a very bad thing,” he said.

“Now they don’t want any debate because they are in trouble when we ask them how can you be in government if your allies have another vision of Spain in Europe? Spain is part of Europe, and European policy is part of Spanish policy, you can disassociate them. This, the government does want to show, therefore they try not to have any debate.”

Truth is, everything seems to point that the turnout will probably be anemic, no matter what some government-paid polls are saying. A very significant indication comes from the number of people who have applied for absentee ballot: so far, only 186,000, which is a stunning 41.87% lower than in the European Parliament elections in June 2004, when the turnout was only 45.94 %. So we could see a lower 30s, even a high 20s, here. This is why the electoral authority has just announce that it will extend the period for casting abstentee ballots -which was supposed to end today- for 48 more hours. Something that I guess it's legal, but it's the first time it's been done in the country.