1992 French voters narrowly approved the Maastricht treaty in a cliffhanger referendum, putting European Union back on track after weeks of uncertainty. President Francois Mitterrand hailed the vote, estimated by computer projections at 50.78 per cent in favour of European Union, as one of the most important days in French history. Interior Minister Paul Quiles said after more than half the votes had been counted that they confirmed computer projections that a majority of the 38.3 million electors had voted to ratify the treaty. The turnout was about 70 per cent. “France said yes to the question posed by the President of the Republic,” said Quiles. European Commission chief Jacques Delors, whose political future had depended on the outcome of the poll, voiced hopes that the referendum opened the way to ratification of the treaty by all other EC states. A computer breakdown of the poll showed peace was the main concern of those who backed the treaty, and the “yes” vote was stronger in border regions.
Other Important events
1870 - Italian troops enter Rome, completing the unification of Italy.
1881 - Chester A. Arthur is sworn in as the 21st president of the US, succeeding James A. Garfield.
1946 - The first annual Cannes film Festival opens.
1955 - The USSR grants sovereignty to East Germany.
1963 - Josef Lenart becomes Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia.
1967 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched.
1977 - Vietnam and Djibouti join the United Nations.
1981 - Belize declares independence.
1984 - A suicide car bomber attacks the US Embassy annexe in north Beirut, killing a dozen people.
1989 - F. W. de Klerk is inaugurated as President of South Africa.
1991 - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev admits the central government has lost most of its political control over the Soviet republics.
1992 - French vote in favour of Maastricht treaty.
1994 - A pneumonic plague epidemic breaks out in Surat, India, killing about 60 people.
1996 - Murtaza Bhutto, the estranged brother of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is killed in a gun battle in Karachi.
1997 - Polish Solidarity gains against the governing ex-communist Democratic Leftist Alliance party in parliamentary elections.
1998 - Malaysian police arrest ousted deputy premier Anwar Ebrahim.
1999 - Kosovo Liberation Army leaders and the Nato-led peacekeeping force sign an agreement to demilitarise the former rebel army.
2001 - US President George W. Bush declares a ‘war on terror’ in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
2004 - Thousands of Vietnamese troops drive out of the northern Cambodian town of Siem Reap at the start of Hanoi’s final withdrawal
2007 - Borse Dubai and Nasdaq join hands to launch a global platform for OMX.
2008 Czech ambassador and 53 others killed when a suicide attacker bombs the Marriott hotel in Islamabad.
2010 A freight train smashes into the passenger train killing 20 in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh, India.
2011 - Former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani is killed by a suicide bomber at his home in Kabul.
2013 More than 100 people are killed in landslides and flooding caused by heavy rain in Acapulco, Mexico.
2014 - New Zealand’s conservative Prime Minister John Key sweeps to historic election victory.
2015 - British author Jackie Collins dies of breast cancer at 77.
