Three weeks ago, the political leadership of the European Union had no Plan B if the French vote No in their referendum on the EU constitutional treaty on May 29. This is no longer the case. As the prospects of a French No have grown, at least two such plans have developed.

One of them was proposed by Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, which currently holds the EU presidency. Mr Juncker simply proposed to let the treaty ratification process continue in the event of a French No. At first sight, this does not look like a plan at all, more like an act of desperation. After all, it takes all 25 EU countries to ratify the treaty. A French No would kill it. So why continue this process?