Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands - St Antony's College ...

safeguards and direct citizen participation
the relevant issues, for which there are currently not enough incentives
within the regular framework of the representative system. Voter input
ultimately strengthens input legitimacy, provided the outcome of the referendum
is binding. The acceptance of the ultimate policy output may also
increase. Moreover, referenda, especially eu-wide preferenda, can
contribute to processes of identification. If preferenda are made compulsory
for certain types of decisions, this could strengthen accountability
mechanisms with regard to national politicians, who would then have to
anticipate referenda at an early stage in the negotiating process. Finally,
referenda provide strong incentives for the involvement of the media and
civil society organisations.
Box 4.2
Danish referendum experiences
What do the oft-cited experiences in Denmark teach us about the pros and cons of referenda
on Europe? Despite the parliamentary threshold that has been set for referenda (a
referendum is only held if the required parliamentary majority of 5/6 for ratification is not
achieved), to date, all European Treaty amendments have been put to the Danish people.
This has resulted in referenda being held in 1972, 1986, 1992 (twice), 1998 and 2000. A
referendum on the draft version of the Constitutional Treaty was postponed until further
notice pending the outcome of the period of reflection.
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Although the Danes are often regarded as Euro-sceptic, this is not borne out by opinion
polls that have been taken since the early 1970s; support among the Danish public for the
proposed treaty amendments and the integration process has remained relatively stable.
However, in general, the Danes are familiar with European issues. In fact, Denmark comes
in second among the 25 eu member states on this point (Eurobarometers 2000-2006).
All Danish referenda on Europe have led to intense public and political debates. Political
parties have expressed explicit views on the pros and cons of proposed amendments, and
this has sometimes led to heated social debate in which interest groups, trade unions and
NGOs have also participated actively. As an incentive for politicians to position themselves
and for the public to inform themselves, the Danish experiences with referenda
appear positive (Svensson 2002, 748). Finally, the Danish example shows that the more
experience voters gain through their involvement with referenda, the less influence
domestic politics will have on their voting behaviour. This influence is eventually filtered
out in favour of specific debates on the (European) theme that is actually being voted
upon.
4.3.3 deliberative forms of citizen participation
‘Deliberative’ forms of citizen participation are intended to involve citizens
actively in the process of political opinion formation through debate on the