Why has an apparently persistent opposition to the European constitution emerged in France, a country so often at the forefront of European construction?

There is the waning popularity of the government, which has failed to tackle an unemployment level of 10 per cent and pushed through contentious social reforms. Traditionally in referendums the French people do not really respond to the questions put to them, but say Yes or No to the presidents asking them. This was true for Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou and François Mitterrand, so why should it be any different for Jacques Chirac?