The Impact of National Direct Democracy on the Choice for Convening EU Referendums

Abstract

Referendums on issues of European integration have become more and more important in recent years, particularly after the failed referenda on the EU Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands. This paper examines the impact of direct democracy in national contexts on the decision of governments and parliaments to conduct EU referendums. The results of a qualitative–comparative analysis of 30 countries since 1945 show that this form of path dependency exists only in part: While some nation states with plebiscitary traditions also grant their citizens direct participation in major EU decisions, others do not convene EU referendums or call for EU referendums even though they have no experience with direct democracy in national politics.

Key words:

• European integration
• EU referendums
• direct democracy
• political parties
• EU member states

Notes

1 Two further EU referendums were not national, but regional votes on EC/EU membership: In February 1982, a referendum took place in Greenland – which joined as a part of Denmark in 1972 – in which 54% of citizens voted to withdraw from the EC (Krämer, 1982, p. 273); on 20 November 1994, just over a month after the Finnish EU membership referendum, a vote took place on the Åland Islands (population 26,000) as to whether the region wanted, as a part of Finland, join the EU (Suksi, 1996, p. 60).

2 This trend is associated with a general increase of referendums in Europe: While in the 18 largest European countries, only comparatively few referendums had been carried out by the end of the 1960s (1940–1949: 26 referendums; 1950–1959: 50; 1960–1969: 40), the number rose to 140 in the period 1990–1998. This sharp rise is, however, to be attributed to an increase in plebiscites and referendums in Italy and Switzerland, while this development can scarcely be observed in other countries (Setälä, 1999, p. 333).

3 Since a court decision in 1995, pro-European party advertising can only be carried out in a concealed manner, as the Irish government and political parties were prohibited to advertise unilaterally for referendums and since then may only ‘inform in a neutral and balanced manner’ (Hummer & Obwexer, 2001, p. 238).

4 In contrast, various elements of direct democracy have been anchored in the constitutions of most states, which have been expanded considerably since German reunification and applied regularly since the 1990s, particularly in Bavaria, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Magin & Eder, 2007, p. 173).