Alarm bells sound after low turnout in Hungary's EU referendum

Pro-EU Poles yesterday celebrated the resounding "Yes" vote in in Hungary's EU entry referendum over the weekend, but said that voter apathy augured ill for Poland's own vote on the issue in June. Politicians and analysts said the low 46% turnout diminished chances that Poland would achieve a 50% turnout needed to make its June 8 referendum binding. This would leave EU accession up to a vote in the highly quarrelsome Sejm. "If we fail to achieve the 50% turnout and Parliament is forced to decide on EU entry, this could have negative repercussions," said Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, head of the Public Affairs Institute. Many are now more openly criticizing the government EU campaign saying it is going far too slowly, while others hint that it may be already too late to mobilize the masses to turn out to vote. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A5; Reuters) A.Z.