Referendum season in Europe: A guide to the referenda on the EU constitutional treaty

Europe's referendum season is about to kick off. On 20 February 2005 Spain will hold the first of ten national referenda on the new EU constitutional treaty. EU leaders signed the constitutional treaty at a ceremony in Rome last October, and the 25 governments have until November 2006 to ratify the document. Governments can ratify the constitutional treaty by a parliamentary vote, or they can hold a referendum – in a few member-states a referendum is mandatory. Ten EU governments will hold referenda on the constitutional treaty. The other 15 governments will ratify the document in their parliaments.

Daniel Keohane was a senior research fellow at the CER (2001-2006).