FIRST, France said no -and Dutch voters followed suit last night.

Exit polls showed that nearly 63 per cent of Dutch voters rejected the proposed EU constitution -deepening the crisis over the future of the European Union sparked by France's rejection of the treaty on Sunday.

The rejection leaves Europe's leaders without a clear back-up plan for the charter, which needs approval from all 25 EU nations to take effect late next year.

Nine countries have ratified the constitution, either by referendum or parliamentary vote. France was the first to reject it.

The referendum is non-binding, but Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said the government would respect the outcome of the referendum.

He said: "The Dutch people have spoken tonight. It is a clear result. Naturally, I am very disappointed."

Supporters of the constitution - including both Balkenende's Conservative government and the main opposition Labour Party - said it would streamline decision-making in the European Union and give Europe more sway in international affairs by creating a single foreign minister to represent the bloc.

But opponents feared the Netherlands, a nation of only 16 million people, would be engulfed by a superstate dominated by Germany, France and Britain, and would mean the end of Dutch policies such as tolerating marijuana, prostitution and euthanasia.

French President Jacques Chirac said that the Dutch rejection of the EU constitution in a referendum raised major concerns about the future of the European project.

The leader of Britain's Tory MEPs, Timothy Kirkhope, said the Dutch had managed to "kill off" the treaty - and a UK referendum was now pointless.

Gary Titley, leader of Britain's Labour MEPs, said: "These results have sparked a debate that will lead us to redefine Europe's future and how we take forward our political and economic partnership."