French voters have said "no" to the European Union (EU) Constitution in Sunday's referendum, not only dealing another heavy blow to Europe's efforts toward integration, but also pushing more Dutch voters to reject the treaty in their Wednesday's referendum.

The was the third time France had thrown EU into chaos in the bloc's nearly 60 years of integration.

In 1954, the French National Assembly rejected a treaty to establish a European Defense Community to forge closer military ties among the bloc's six founding members -- Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and the joint defense mechanism was abandoned.

In 1965, France boycotted the introduction of a majority voting mechanism in the European Economic Community's (EEC) governing Council of Ministers. From the fall to the end of the year, France refused to take its seat at meetings under a "empty chair policy."

The dispute ended in 1966 when Paris forced the Luxembourg compromise, which stipulates that majority voting would not be used as any member state felt that its national interests were at stake due to a policy.

Denmark, Britain and Ireland had also once created uncertainty about the future of European integration.

The Danish voters rejected in a referendum in 1992 the Maastricht treaty, which aims to turn the European Community into the European Union, establishing a single European currency and a common foreign and security policy.

The Danish government negotiates some benefits from the EU's defense policy, the euro, asylum and immigration policy and EU citizenship. Danish voters approve the treaty in 1993 in a second referendum.

Nevertheless, then British Prime Minister John Major announced in 1996 the boycott of EU decision-making in a "non-cooperation policy" due to a EU a ban on British beef after an outbreak of mad cow disease.

Irish voters reject the Nice Treaty in 2001 for fear of neutrality being prejudiced.

Ireland agreed to the Nice treaty in a second referendum in 2002 after a declaration promising not to impact the country's neutrality.

Although the rejections were at last dispersed, the French "no" fallout might more severe than that of any previous veto.

A domino effect is looming up. In the Netherlands, the "No" camp is most likely to be strengthened by the French result while in Britain, Blair hinted on Monday that holding a British referendum could depend on the Dutch result.

In addition, for Croatia, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria, countries that are seeking an EU membership, the French outcome further adds doubts to future accession procedures as some say the French "no" shows European public opinion has been unnerved by last year's enlargement and may become less ready to accept newcomers.

Source: Xinhua