The European Constitution is all but dead now, struck down by the one-two punch of France’s “no” vote on Sunday and the Netherlands’ (even more vehement) “no” yesterday.

The bureaucrats in Brussels are scurrying for cover, as the Euro plummets in value and the political fallout continues to rain down on heads of state across the continent. The French president sacked his unpopular prime minister. The German chancellor pleaded for calm and unity, declaring that the failure to ratify the constitution must not “become a general European crisis.” Luxembourg’s prime minister lamented that “Europe is no longer the stuff of dreams.” There has even been talk of the impending demise of the Euro single currency.

The gloom-and-doom scenarios being put forth seem rather exaggerated to me. Sure, the failure of the European Constitution will mean that the process of integration will slow down. Those who are hoping for a strong European Union to balance the global scales of power will have to wait longer. But it seems only a matter of time before Europe emerges as a mature, unified political force. The younger generations across the continent are expressing an increasingly European identity. The “no” vote gained support from large segments of left because of provisions that were seen — justly or not — as too fixated on free, unfettered markets, and too neglectful of protections for workers and the public sector. Either the treaty establishing the constitution will be renegotiated to increase such protections, or those voters disenchanted with the last draft will come to the conclusion that any kind of unity is better than none. As China and India gain more of a foothold in European markets, and as the United States continues to assert an uncompromising foreign policy, the benefits of unity will undoubtedly appear more attractive to the French and Dutch, as well as other euroskeptics across the continent.

Look at it like this: Those precocious American colonists took quite a few years to move from the Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution — with a whole lot of interstate bickering, Federalist/Anti-Federalist hate mail, and geez-this-is-a-stupid-idea moaning along the way. They didn’t even have a referendum. Cable news wasn’t invented yet. Shouldn’t we expect the Europeans to take some time to get “We the People” right?

In the meantime, you might as well book that next flight to Paris — the Euro is down to an eight-month low of $1.2255. Did I mention that baguettes are less than 1 euro apiece?

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen