The European Referendum Campaign (ERC) was an independent, Europe-wide, cross party network of NGOs and individuals which intended to bring together campaigners to fight for democratic development within the European Union. Its sole objective was to gain as many

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...

s on the 2007 EU

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member st ...

in as many EU member states as possible. The ERC was supported by the

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

''Mehr Demokratie'', and by ''Democracy International'', a split-off of ''Mehr Demokratie'', whose people also created the

European Citizens' Initiative The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a European Union (EU) mechanism aimed at increasing direct democracy by enabling "EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies", introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon in 2007. Th ...

. The ERC cooperated with the European political party ''

EUDemocrats Europeans United for Democracy – Alliance for a Europe of Democracies, formerly known as ''EUDemocrats'', was a Eurosceptic and self-described Eurorealist alliance of parties and movements from 15 European countries. It operated as a transnat ...

– Alliance for a Europe of Democracies'', as inspired and presided by

Jens-Peter Bonde Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde (27 March 1948 – 4 April 2021) was a Danish politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in th ...

History

The European Referendum Campaign began in 2002 and focused on reaching referendums on the

European Constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

. The ERC lobbied the

Convention on the Future of Europe The Convention on the Future of the European Union, also known as the European Convention, was a body established by the European Council in December 2001 as a result of the Laeken Declaration. Inspired by the Philadelphia Convention that led ...

to produce something that would be understood by the people, and, regardless of the outcome of the convention, put the product to an EU-wide referendum. By 2003 the campaign began to gather momentum, the ERC joined forces with ''Referendum04'', ''Vote 2004'' and ''Trust the People'', as well as other campaigns fighting for referendums across Europe. In the Netherlands, It was the local ERC team who lobbied for a referendum there. The law to pass the referendum was drafted by a member of the ERC team, Niesco Dubbelboer, who was a Dutch MP at the time. It ceased the effort in 2004. By the end, the campaign was supported by 293 organisations from across Europe as well as 97 members of the

who drew up the original EU Constitution (draft). The ERC continued to fight for referendums on the new EU

. The ERC stated that the new treaty is the same as the previous

Open Europe
''A guide to the constitutional treaty''
August 2007, on the Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy) webOpen Europe
''The Constitutional Treaty: A Comparative Text''
and that the treaty contains fundamental changes to the framework of the EU. Therefore the consent of citizens is needed in order to legitimise treaty. The ERC did not hold a position on the treaty itself and whether or not it should be enforced. The ERC campaigned only against the undemocratic

ratification Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inte ...

process. The Lisbon Treaty came into effect on 1 December 2009.

Criticism

Some believed that the Lisbon

Treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...

is different from the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

and therefore it does not require a referendum. However, later on, the fact that the texts are identical was confirmed, next to other politicians in Europe, by

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name '' Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The ...

, who presided over the EU Convention: :''”The Treaty of Lisbon is the same as the rejected constitution. Only the format has been changed to avoid referendums.”''
–

, former French President and President of the

Constitutional Convention Constitutional convention may refer to: * Constitutional convention (political custom), an informal and uncodified procedural agreement *Constitutional convention (political meeting), a meeting of delegates to adopt a new constitution or revise an e ...

in several European newspapers, 27 October 2007 Further, it was also believed that holding a vote on the treaty would be detrimental to the progress of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

. It has been argued that the treaty is far too complex for ordinary people to vote on. That they do not have the expertise necessary to make a decision on whether or not the treaty is valid. This is why people elect and pay politicians so that they can make these decisions on behalf of the people they are meant to represent. Another common criticism of referendums on the EU is that the public rarely vote on Europe and instead they vote on domestic issues, as was the case in the French or Dutch referendum on the treaty. Countries could also face international political problems if the referendum returns a negative result.Mary Fitzgerald:
Yes vote for EU treaty in 'Irish interests'
',

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

Notes and references

{{Reflist, 2

External links

* european-referendum.org – the very first ERC website (see
search..."european-referendum.org"
*
erc2.org
– the second ERC website (see
search..."erc2.org"
, later archived o

democracy-international.org
– Democracy International website / ( de
mehr-demokratie.de
– Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy) website *
''More Democracy in Europe – Referendum on the EU-Constitution / Direct Democracy in the EU''
Discussion Paper 2005, Democracy International, on the Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy) website
eudemocrats.org
– EUDemocrats website Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

History

Criticism

See also

Notes and references

External links