The crushing rejection of the constitution in referenda in France and the Netherlands taught Germany's political class that the delicate theme of Europe should never simply be put to a yes-no vote.
To rule against the commission, Mr Clement suggested, is not to run the risk of overturning any and all state referenda involving elections.That may be.
European countries did so through legislation and, occasionally, referenda.
Europeans went about legalisation through new legislation and, occasionally, referenda.
Devaluing the role of our representatives by holding occasional referenda, binding or not, is a road to chaos.Hans WijnbergMidlaren, The Netherlands SIR — Bagehot, Charlemagne and Lexington combine tightly reasoned analysis with opinion and insight, making these articles for me the most interesting in the magazine.
It will also pass a law on referenda that Mr Mas will try to use to call a non-binding referendum of some kind.
The only case where that does happen is the European Parliament and that attracts even more voter cynicism than national institutions (worse still is the EU's track record of requiring countries to keep holding referenda until they get the right answer).
Businesses fret that this will lead to thousands of local referenda each year and make it dauntingly tough for anyone to build a new office, factory or theme park.Another looming threat concerns the weather.
He and his co-founder, Beppe Grillo, a comedian, dream of replacing Italy's corrupt and wasteful system of democracy with a new kind in which lawmakers enact the will of the people as expressed in referenda on the web.
By opening up Congress to greater scrutiny, changing campaign finance laws and holding popular referenda, he argues, America has produced a dysfunctional political system dominated by special-interest groups, fund-raisers and lobbyists.Mr Zakaria goes on to look at the damage democratisation has done below the level of the federal government.
The two parties representing Kabyle aspirations for greater autonomy and for official adoption of their Tamazight language have called for a boycott of the election as they have done for other presidential elections and national referenda (although not for local elections and some recent parliamentary elections).
