Letting the citizens decide : plebiscites and populists

Abstract

Direct democracy has a long history and is increasingly becoming part of the dynamic of European Integration. National referendums from Greece and Switzerland to Hungary and the UK are beginning to challenge the institutions and policies of the European Union in complex ways. Each referendum is subject to national influences, and the effects of referendums vary. Yet national voters are also EU citizens, and national governments meeting in the European Council are accountable to referendum voters as well as having obligations to the EU and their partner member states. The EU was partly created to overcome the externalities caused by having so many states in Europe but national ‘voice’ on EU issues including membership may have profound consequences for the Union and other member states. This panel will focus on the effects of national referendums on Europe’s Union.