LOCHES, France - French teacher Philippe Connil braves the cold on a wintry April 9 morning to hand out leaflets urging shoppers in this sleepy provincial town to reject the European Union constitution.

"It's not that we're anti-European. We just don't want this constitution. We want a different one," Connil said as he campaigns in Loches, 250 kilometres southwest of Paris.

"I've come across people from all sorts of backgrounds who don't like the constitution."

If Connil is right - and opinion polls suggest he is - President Jacques Chirac faces a major battle to win support for the constitution in a referendum on May 29 and avert what could be a crisis at the heart of the EU.

Connil and his fellow "No" supporters have been campaigning for months, much longer than the conservative government which has only just cranked up its "Yes" campaign.

"Until now the 'No' camp has dominated the scene and we have not seen much of the 'Yes' camp," said Pascal Perrineau, a political analyst. "There is little knowledge of what is in the constitution, but there is big expectation of a debate."

Chirac is about to throw himself into the campaign with the aim of providing just that - a debate that explains the treaty, agreed by EU leaders last year to make the Union function smoothly following its enlargement from 15 to 25 member states.

But alarm bells are already ringing across Europe. Fears are growing that French voters could torpedo the treaty, which needs the approval of all member states to go into force.

"We have to recognize that on the right and left we've begun the campaign badly," said Jean-Marc Ayrault, a top member of the Socialist Party whose leadership also backs the constitution.

On campaign trail

The "No" campaign has no obvious leader but opponents of the charter have been out campaigning for weeks.

Connil and his left-wing allies in the Loire Valley, an area that is home to many former royal castles, have been travelling the region to explain why they oppose the constitution.

Their views feature on a website that appeals for "No" votes (http://www.appeldes200.net), features news from local groups opposing the constitution and advertises meetings about the treaty. Their leaflets list reasons to reject the charter.

"I'm more worried about the economic consequences of the constitution than the political ones," Stephane Pipart, one of the campaigners, said in a Loches cafe. "It's too liberal."

Left-wing opponents say the treaty will not guarantee jobs and will dismantle social programmes that protect workers.

They fear public services will be dismantled, ordinary people will have no say in monetary policy and that there will be less opportunity to improve workers' conditions and rights.

They also show every sign of being fed up with the way the EU has developed, fearing France is losing its influence, and want the constitution renegotiated.

The government says there is no chance of renegotiating the treaty, already the result of a compromise that took years to reach, and that France will be less able to influence EU decisions if it rejects the charter.

"We are in an explanation phase, a phase marked by uncertainty and a bad mood because French people have discovered that the enlargement of Europe has reduced France's influence," Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian said.

He said the treaty would increase France's voting strength in the EU and help it run smoothly. Rejection would mean diplomatic isolation for France, he said.

"The explaining will work... Everything will, as usual, be decided in the last three weeks," Devedjian said this week.

Too late?

Ministers have now started going to the provinces to discuss the constitution. Leaflets, books and booklets have appeared in bookshops and supermarkets, and leaders have visited from other European countries to back the campaign.

The government has sent three buses, decked out in the blue and gold of the EU flag, into the regions to spread the word. It has a web site on Europe (www.europe.gouv.fr) and a telephone hotline to answer questions about the treaty (0810 2005 05).

But is it too late to overtake the "No" campaign, which opinion polls put from 2 to 10 percentage points ahead?

"At the moment it's not good. All the signs point in the wrong direction. We probably erred by being over optimistic," said Pierre Lellouche, a pro-constitution politician who believes the "Yes" camp started campaigning too late.

The government is trying to persuade people to think only about the merits of the constitution when voting. But many voters see the referendum as a chance to let off steam over what they regard as the government's economic policy failures.

At a recent Paris rally of opponents of the constitution, speaker after speaker criticized the government on issues such as education and health care reforms. Little was said about what is in the constitution.

A campaign the government once seemed confident of winning has turned into a major battle, with Europe's future at stake.

The government is especially nervous because the Maastricht Treaty moving towards economic, political and social union passed by only a whisker in France in 1992.

(Agencies via Xinhua)