European states have begun the daunting task of selling the newly agreed EU constitution at home, and there are already bleak signs for the charter in key member state Britain, opinion polls showed on Sunday.
All 25 member states must ratify the long-delayed constitutional deal in their parliaments and some opposition politicians have promised to put up a tough fight to block its passage.
Italy became the latest state on Sunday to indicate it may also put the landmark constitution to a popular vote, joining the likes of Britain where Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged to hold a referendum.
"The devil is in the details but everything indicates that this treaty is not worth ratifying," said Jan Rokita, a leader of the main right-wing Polish opposition party, Civic Platform, promising a tough fight for the minority leftist government in the EU's biggest newcomer.
EU leaders finally adopted the set of rules for the enlarged bloc late on Friday, but its passage could now be blocked at the last hurdle by a national vote in any of the member states.
Blair's decision to hold a referendum, probably late next year - an attempt to neutralise Europe as an issue at a general election expected in May 2005 - has caused gloom among fellow EU leaders who believe he will be hard-pressed to win it.
Opinion polls in British newspapers on Sunday highlighted the uphill battle he faces in selling it to his eurosceptic public.
A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed voters would reject the constitution by 49 percent to 23 percent while an ICM poll for the cross-party Vote No campaign showed 57 percent opposed it.
Another poll cited by the Observer showed 69 percent of voters thought the deal gave away too much power over jobs, living standards and asylum policies.
Denmark, also less of an EU integrationist than other countries in the bloc, will also hold a referendum.
In pro-Europe Italy, the constitution - like other EU treaties in the past - needs to be approved by both houses of parliament, but Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the public might be involved this time around.
"I think it would be appropriate to seek a popular mandate," Frattini told the daily Corriere della Sera. "We will talk about it within the government. We would do it towards November when there will be the issue of ratification."
Europhile France and Germany have not yet said if they will hold referendums. Commentators in both countries said the treaty was a second-best, but better than nothing.
"...it is progress compared to the previous Treaty of Nice, even if one cannot regard this text as the one that Europe at 25 needs in order to avoid being just a market," wrote Pierre Moscovici, Socialist former Europe minister, in the Sunday edition of Le Parisien. "It is, therefore, only a stage."
Germany's Welt am Sonntag criticised the charter for failing to strengthen democracy in the bloc, but added:
"The German parliament will nevertheless ratify the treaty. If all 25 EU nations do the same thing, it would be the second-best solution, yet that would still be a solution that Europe can live with."
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