French Maastricht Treaty referendum, 1992

A referendum on the Maastricht Treaty was held in France on 20 September 1992. It was approved by only 51% of the voters. The result of the referendum, known as the "petit oui", along with the Danish "No" vote are considered to be signals of the end of the "permissive consensus" on European integration which had existed in most of continental Europe until then. From this point forward issues relating to European integration were subject to much greater scrutiny across much of Europe, and overt euroscepticism gained prominence. Only France, Ireland and Denmark held referendums on Maastricht ratification.

Opponents included the French Communist Party (PCF) and far-left parties such as the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) or Workers' Struggle (LO), who opposed what they considered as an advance of neo-liberalism, as well as Euro-sceptics such as the far-right National Front and Philippe de Villiers. Those who opposed the ratification included the demographer Emmanuel Todd. Opponents to the treaty were also in the main right-wing party, the Rally for the Republic, which has experienced from 1992 to great divisions between the souverainists (Philippe Séguin, Charles Pasqua ...), and pro-Europeans.

Results

Choice	Metropolitan France		Total
	Votes	%	Votes	%
For	12,957,324	50.8	13,162,992	51.0
Against	12,542,635	49.2	12,623,582	49.0
Invalid/blank votes	880,783	–	909,377	–
Total	26,380,742	100	26,695,951	100
Registered voters/turnout	37,087,104	71.1	38,305,534	69.7
Source: Nohlen & Stöver