Referendums are the key to reducing the EU's enormous democratic deficit (Vincent De Roeck)

The idea of a European referendum, as put forward by notorious French law professor Frederic Rouvillois, has always been supported by radical Euro-federalists. They are the only people who presuppose the existence of a truly unified and homogenous European “people”. However, in their opinion, the true purpose has in fact never been the creation of a regular framework of consultation which would give some degree of direct influence to the peoples of Europe in areas such as global long-term strategies or general concerns regarding the direction in which their society is going. Rather they intend to impose a symbolic “all-in-one” referendum to the citizens in order to assure the indispensable democratic legitimacy of any EU Constitution.

The idea of a European referendum, regardless of the goals envisaged by this Euro-federalist approach, still looks very interesting, and might even be put to use in a completely different way. The holding of referendums on important EU related issues on a regular basis might actually result in a further advantage on the level of European democracy. Any referendum of this kind should of course respect at all times the Rule of Law in the member states and indeed guarantee the differences in identity of the peoples of Europe. Furthermore, this practice might prove that for once and for all our adversaries do not necessarily represent the opinion shared by the majority of people.

The idea of regular European referendums could also contain a very strong political message:
- Referendums allow ordinary citizens to reclaim power from technocrats and the political elite, thus creating a true feeling of unity amongst the people.
- Referendums make the democratic deficit of the EU institutions disappear.
- Referendums may lead to the empowerment of the citizens through new ways of political activism, replacing the emphasis from a purely representative government to a participative democracy.
- Referendums can reduce apathy amongst voters, increasing overall turnout and puting a higher level of commitment to the political process.

The benefits of such a system are very clear:
- The idea itself is not hard to understand nor difficult to develop or implement. Referendums could be a very healthy innovation for the political process in the EU.
- Arguments in favour of referendums do not differ between member states.
- Referendums might even be combined with a true Europe-wide presidential election.
- The idea will put an end to the ivory tower mentality of the traditional European parties and their claim to speak in the name of the majority of the European peoples.

Traditional political parties have perhaps been poisoned by the ideas of representative democracy and are therefore hostile towards the emergence of a direct democracy. In a way, the same is true for the general public, too often ignorant, immobile, doubtful and conservative when it comes to major institutional reform. The key to introducing this new kind of participation in the political process, against the general mistrust of people to reform, is in emphasising the fact that this procedure is undeniably European and democratic. This allows us to reproach our adversaries through the fact that they are neither true democrats or sincere Europeans.


Meer over referenda in de EU op www.europeanreferendum.eu.
Meer teksten van Vincent De Roeck op www.libertarian.be.