Push for EU-wide vote on constitution in June 2004

Date: 10/04/03

By Dana Spinant

PRESSURE is growing for an EU-wide referendum on the European constitution to be held at the same time as the elections for the European Parliament in June 2004.

Some 64 members of the Convention which is drafting the constitution are urging the forum to recommend that member states organise such referenda.

They claim that, if the constitution is to have "real democratic legitimacy, then it ought to be put to the people of Europe".

However, Michel Barnier, the institutional affairs commissioner who sits on the Convention praesidium, has pointed out that referenda are barred or not accepted in some states. "The constitutional provisions of each member state should be respected concerning this," he told European Voice.

Barnier was speaking after the publication of a paper signed by more than a quarter of the Convention, including Italian Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, praesidium member Alojz Peterle from Slovenia, and representatives of the French and German parliaments.

It calls for the constitutional treaty to be approved "not only by national parliaments and the European Parliament but also by the citizens of Europe in binding referenda...an option being the same day as the European Parliament elections in June 2004".

The paper, unveiled on 4 April, states that failure to put the constitution to the popular vote "would simply reinforce the impression of a deep democratic deficit in Europe.

"It would also send the signal that Europe is not about the people but about the governing elites."

However, the biggest legal and political obstacle is that such referenda are constitutionally barred in the biggest member state, Germany.

The paper's authors suggest a "consultative referendum" could be held in such cases.

But a senior Convention official indicated this was a non-starter. "What is a consultative referendum? If, let's say, 60% of the population votes for or against it, can you, as a government or parliament say 'thank you very much, that was interesting to know what you think, but now we decide differently?' Politically, you cannot ignore the result of consultative referenda, even though legally you can."

In any case, he added, member states cannot be forced to organise referenda where their constitutions do not permit them. "That would mean interfering in member states' constitutional order and neither the Convention nor the European Council can do that," he warned.

Meanwhile, a manifesto to be unveiled shortly by the Spanish ruling party, Partido Populare, will also call for an EU-wide referendum to be held in tandem with the European Parliament elections in June next year.

Barnier said he recognised that it was a "democratic idea, to allow the people to pronounce solemnly on the constitution".

However, the French commissioner added: "Before planning a solemn aratification, we [the Convention] must concentrate on producing a solemn text. Let us make a good Treaty of Rome before thinking of this [referendum]."

Pressure is growing for an EU-wide referendum on the European constitution to be held at the same time as the elections for the European Parliament in June 2004.