They're not anti-EU, they're anti-Brussels

By Tom Hundley Tribune foreign correspondent
Sun Jun 5, 9:40 AM ET

In the end, the vote against the European Union constitution wasn't a vote against Europe; it was a vote against one particular city in Europe: Brussels.

For many ordinary Europeans, "Brussels," the city that houses the European Union's headquarters, has become a kind of shorthand for the imperious ways of an overweening bureaucracy that seems increasingly unresponsive to their concerns.

So when ordinary Europeans in France and the Netherlands got a chance last week to express their feelings on the latest diktat from Brussels--the new "Constitution for Europe," a 200-page, 448-article document of turgid prose and numbing detail--they trashed it. Enthusiastically and emphatically.

Most Europeans support the idea of a harmonious and inclusive Europe. That much was clear in interviews and casual conversations with dozens of voters over the last few weeks.

They like the idea of open borders and the free movement of goods across Europe. They generally support the single currency, even though it seemed to make prices go up everywhere.

What they don't like is the way Brussels seemed to meddle in the little things.