Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said on Friday that if the French people say no to the European Union Constitution in Sunday's referendum, the rejection will not break up Europe.

But Fini admitted, in an interview with the La Stampa daily, that French rejection will be a major problem for other countries.

A No vote in France "would not just be a French problem ... ... In certain respects it would be a bigger problem for countries which have already ratified or which are set to ratify the Constitutional Treaty," Fini said.

It would be "an unequivocal setback for the process of European unification but would not spark the disintegration of the EU," said the foreign minister, adding that he is "not as pessimistic as that."

He also pointed out that the Treaty does not come into force until 2009 and therefore, in the event of a No vote, "there would be enough time to think up initiatives to overcome the impasse."

Fini went on to reject reports that the government is blaming its economic woes on Europe.

But he admitted that the government had not paid enough attention to the positive effects of joining the euro single currency.

Source: Xinhua