Member-State Referendums and Constitutional
Change: The Wider Implications for the EU
Brigid Laffan
Director
1
Date
Treaty
Yes
No
Turnout
10.05.72
Accession
83.1
16.9
70.9
26.05.87
SEA
69.9
30.1
44.1
18.06.92
TEU
69.1
30.9
57.3
22.05.98
Amsterdam
61.7
38.3
56.2
07.06.01
Nice 1
46.1
53.9
34.8
20.10.02
Nice 2
62.9
37.1
48.5
12.06.08
Lisbon 1
46.6
53.4
53.1
02.10.09
Lisbon 2
67.13
32.87
53.13
31.05.12
Fiscal
Compact
60.29
39.71
50.6
2
Ireland
• 9 Referendums/ largest number of all member
states
• 7 Yes/2 No
• Bunreacht na hÉireann: Article 29.4.3° enabling the
laws of the then European Communities entering into
the Irish legal system (Third amendment of the
constitution)
3
Ireland: A Referendum
Country
• 1987 the Supreme Court deliberated on Crotty
v. An Taoiseach.
– Crotty Judgement has had major effects
– Crotty renders a constitutional amendment
necessary in Ireland whenever the Government
wishes the State to ratify a Treaty which in the
view of the Irish courts would go beyond the
‘essential scope’ or ‘objectives’ of the existing
Treaties
4
Implications For the Wider
EU
• Negotiations in the shadow of a referendum
• Impact of Outcome (Yes/No)
• A ‘No’ becomes a European Question
• Response to a ‘No’
5
In the Aftermath of a No
• Outside-In Dynamic
• Domestic Dynamics
• Inside-out Dynamics
• Inside-Out Dynamics
6
The New Deal
• One Commissioner per Member State
• Declaration on Workers’ Rights
• Clarification on issues of domestic and specific
interest
7
The Value of Direct
Democracy
• More Knowledge about the EU?
• Ownership of decisions-deliberaton over a
short time framework but intense
• Consent of the People
8
9
10