The future of direct democratic voting in the EU

Abstract

Francis Cheneval firstly elaborates on the conceptual distinctions concerning purely representative and mixed voting systems as well as plebiscitary and direct democracy. After a critique of the arbitrary governmental practice of plebiscites in EU member states and on the basis of two scenarios for the future legitimacy of the EU, he then focuses on policy options: 1) a reformed European citizen initiative; 2) a facultative referendum on secondary EU law; 3) a mandatory referendum on primary EU law; 4) a veto right of a majority of member states’ parliaments on secondary EU law. He then singles out option 2, the citizen-induced referendum right with binding votes, as the most legitimacy-enhancing for the time being. This policy option is weighed against a veto right of a majority of national parliaments, which, for now, would be more in line with the traditions of pure representative democracy of some EU member states.