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Stuffing Europe down their throats

A comprehensive overview on the situation in the Netherlands

Summarised by Thomas Rupp, European Referendum Campaign, erc2.org

Previous history:

On May 1 2005 the Dutch people in a referendum, rejected the proposed EU Constitution with a majority of 61.6%. This – together with a French No - stopped the ratification process. After the parliamentary elections in November 2006 a coalition between Christian Democrats (CDA), Social Democrats/Labour (PvdA) and the Christian Union (CU) formed the government with 80 out of the 150 seats in the Second Chamber. The election programme of the Social Democrats/Labour – for the November election - had explicitly promised a referendum on any new EU treaty, and BEFORE the elections the Labour Party leader Wouter Bos said: "If a new treaty comes up that even only remotely resembles the European Constitution, there will be a second referendum."

In the meantime the heads of states and governments agreed on a new treaty, speaking of the treaty Jean-Claude Juncker stated: "There is a single legal personality for the EU, the primacy of European law, a new architecture for foreign and security policy, there is an enormous extension in the fields of the EU's powers, there is Charter of Fundamental Rights." (Telegraph, 3 July 2007). Angela Merkel is quoted in El Pais affirming that "The fundamentals of the Constitution have been maintained in large part... We have renounced everything that makes people think of a state, like the flag and the national anthem" (24 June 2007).

Since the June 07 summit:

Prime Minister Balkenende could not deny a referendum on the “new” treaty against the resistance of his Labour coalition partner. However, the decision, whether there must be a referendum or not - was handed over to the Council of State (Raad van Staade). The Council of State now said that the new treaty 'differs fundamentally' from the Constitutional Treaty. It also says that the Dutch constitution contains comprehensive provisions on the approval of treaties. They do not include a referendum. A non-binding referendum could only be justified on special grounds.

Following this verdict the argumentation of the government is the following: "Because the new EU treaty is a regular reform treaty, the normal approval procedure will be followed. The government does not feel that a referendum is an appropriate instrument. The government will present this position to the two houses of parliament, together with the Council of State's advice."

U-turn of Social Democrats:

On Tuesday (September 25) the Social Democrats decided not to support the second referendum on the EU Reform Treaty. They exchanged this – in a political deal - with the removal of plans of the Christian Democrats to make it easier to fire employees from their jobs. However, a few Social Democrat MPs are strongly in favour of a new referendum and may vote for the referendum against the party line. On October 6 the Social Democrats will have their party conference, however even if 60% of their members say they disagree with the party position, a members' revolt is unlikely.

Movement for a referendum

Advocates for a referendum include the Socialist Party (SP, 25 seats), the Party for Freedom (PVV, 9 seats), the Green Left (GL, 7 seats), the Democrats 66 (D66, 3 seats), the Party for Animals (PvdD, 2 seats). All together they add up to 46 out of 150 seats. They now try to convince the Liberals (VVD, 22 seats) to join their pro referendum coalition – they would then hold 68 of the 150 seats in parliament. They would then still have to find at least 8 Labour MPs (out of a possible 33) to vote against the party line. Insiders believe that it is unlikely that the call on the Liberals to allow a referendum has big chances for a success. However the argument "Don't deprive the citizens of their right to choose!" would fit quite well into a liberal view of the world.

Two initiatives have recently begun collecting signatures to increase the pressure from the grass-roots. They are: referendumnu.nl and wijwillenreferendum.eu

The government however is being obstinate: "Sources within the government" had leaked to the press that even if a majority in the parliament would vote in favour of it the government would refuse to carry out a decision to hold the referendum. Such a situation hasn't happened since 1986, according to some commentators. This case would probably lead to the end of the government and new elections.

Frustrated citizens feel betrayed

Many citizens however are very frustrated and feel like - as many letters in newspapers and comments on the internet have shown- "they are stuffing Europe down our throats". One “worried European citizen” wrote to one of our supporters: “My trust in any European treaty has now reached the lowest level. Why do I get the feeling our prime minister has betrayed his own country as well as our parliament in Holland. In fact, any prime minister has told a story to it's parliament which has been beside the truth.”

8 Jan 08 - The push for a referendum in the Nehterlands has reached a low point at the moment. Apathy towards the topic is wide spread amongst the Dutch people at present.