A referendum on the Maastricht Treaty for the founding of the European Union was held in France on 20 September 1992.^[1] It was approved by 51% of the voters. The result of the referendum, known as the "petit oui", along with the Danish "No" vote (50,7%) are considered to be signals of a transition into another stadium of European integration, away from the "permissive consensus" which had existed in most memberstates until then. From this point forward issues relating to European integration were subject to more intensive discussions across much of Europe, and later overt euroscepticism gained prominence.^[2] Only France, Ireland and Denmark held referendums on the Maastricht Treaty ratification.

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1992 French Maastricht Treaty referendum

20 September 1992
Do you approve of the bill submitted to the French people by the President of the Republic authorizing the ratification of the Treaty on the European Union
Results
Choice Votes  % Yes 13,162,992 51.05% No 12,623,582 48.95% Valid votes 25,786,574 96.59% Invalid or blank votes 909,377 3.41% Total votes 26,695,951 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 38,305,534 69.69%
Results by département Yes:   Over 60%   55 to 60%   50 to 55% No:   Over 55%   50 to 55%

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The center-left Socialist party (PS), then in power, as well as the center-right Union for French Democracy (UDF) campaigned in favor of the treaty. Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris and leader of the Gaullist RPR party, also took a pro-European stance, partly in the hopes to boost his chances for the next Presidential election.

On the other side, the Euroskeptic faction of the Rally for the Republic (RPR), dissented from its leader and heralded the "no" vote. Communists also opposed what they considered as an advance of neo-liberalism. Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National was also strongly opposed to any integration.

The Trotskytes from Lutte Ouvrière called for an abstention.

Support:

• Socialist party (PS)
• Union for French Democracy (UDF)

Opponents:

• left-wing:
  • Jean-Pierre Chevènement
  • French Communist Party (PCF)
  • Revolutionary Communist League (LCR)
• right-wing:
  • major figures in the Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR) including Philippe Séguin and Charles Pasqua (but not leader Jacques Chirac, and the then-lesser known Nicolas Sarkozy and François Fillon)

• • Philippe de Villiers
  • National Front

Abstain:

• Workers' Struggle (LO) (Arlette Laguiller was quoted as saying "A 'no' vote is a vote for Le Pen")

Those who opposed the ratification also included demographer Emmanuel Todd, on the basis of his work on European anthropology, arguing that differences between cultures would be too strong for a common currency to work.

• François Mitterrand
• Philippe Séguin

The introduction of a common currency was the most debated aspect of the campaign. The three major right-wing figures campaigning against it, Philippe Séguin, Charles Pasqua and Philippe de Villiers, often named souverainists, were arguing that it would be a blow to French monetary independence, and political sovereignty as a whole. Séguin and de Villiers were coming from the top school for senior civil service, the ÉNA, just like left-wing dissenter Jean-Pierre Chevènement.

The sovereignist campaign gained an unexpected momentum, beating the 'yes' vote in some polls.

Philippe Séguin and President François Mitterrand famously faced off in a passionate but nevertheless respectful television debate, also remembered for the fact that Mitterrand was in the midst of a cancer treatment, something hidden from the public at the time.