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Referendums in the European Union: Defective by Birth?
Author(s) -
Cheneval Francis,
Ferrín Mónica
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/jcms.12727
Subject(s) - european union , member states , normative , political science , public administration , democracy , law and economics , international trade , law , economics , politics
On the basis of a combined examination of normative claims and empirical evidence this paper discusses minimal criteria for the institutional design of referendums on EU‐internal issues. These criteria concern the mandatory (vs. optional), the simultaneous (vs. serial) and binding (vs. consultative) nature of referendums. The proposed criteria are demanding, both for the Member States and the European Union, but experiences show that the EU is in fact participating actively in EU‐issues referendums and Member States as well as the EU need to surpass the current arbitrary use of plebiscites by governments. On a broader scale the paper contributes to the insight that it might be time to fully address the use of direct democracy at the national and EU levels.