PARIS : Oui or Non?

On Sunday, French voters go to the polls to decide the fate of the Maastricht Treaty on European political and economic union. At stake in the referendum are plans for the 12-nation European Community to convert to a single currency by 1999.

Danish voters rejected the treaty last June. A French rejection would almost certainly kill the treaty, the product of a four-decade march toward a Western European federal state roughly modeled on the United States.

French support for ratification has rallied after President Francois Mitterrand appeared on television, answering questions from citizens and journalists and debating the treaty’s leading opponent, Philippe Seguin.