Direct Democracy related content 

Croatians too must vote in favour in a referendum before the country's parliament ratifies accession. Croatians are expected on Sunday (22 January) to vote in favour of...

The United Kingdom is about to change the terms of its membership of the EU forever, and for the worse. You might be forgiven for wondering, after all the red lines and...

The Swiss initiative to expel foreign criminals partly reflects the changing character of Switzerland's political system. Three white sheep kick a black sheep out of...

Switzerland's relationship with the EU gets ever more complicated. The Swiss have a complicated relationship with the European Union and appear determined to make it more...

European Citizens' Initiative will not be finalised until the end of this year at the earliest. Plans to allow ordinary people to ask the European Commission to propose...

Make EU laws readily understandable, EU citizens should demand. When the European Commission held a public consultation on citizens' initiatives, I made a submission in...

Teething troubles for the citizens' initiative. The citizens' initiative, an innovation of the European Union's Lisbon treaty, is taking shape – much to the alarm of...

Initiative is supposed to give citizens a direct say, but concerns remain over red tape and the time-frames involved. Doubts are growing over the likely effectiveness of the...

57% support a ban that had been rejected by all the main political parties. In a stunning rebuke to their main political parties - all but one of which had rejected the...

Economic self-interest was not the decisive factor in Ireland's 'Yes' to the Lisbon treaty. Judith Crosbie states that, in her view, the ‘Yes' vote by the Irish people in...

Most Irish voters say they voted ‘Yes' because it was in Ireland's interests and good for the country's economy, survey finds. The majority of Irish citizens voted in...

By saying ‘Yes' to the Lisbon treaty, Irish voters have said ‘No' to the extremes. James Joyce ends “Ulysses” with Molly Bloom uttering the immortal words, “yes I...

Switzerland may yet find itself in trouble with the EU if its citizens decide that a deal struck with the EU on freedom of movement should not cover Bulgaria and Romania....

Judges say it is not for the courts to challenge ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. The High Court of England and Wales today rejected a legal attempt to oblige the...

In ‘A deal to modernise Europe' (25-30 October) you pose the question whether a EU-wide referenda be held on the reform treaty. If you mean independently in each country...

Gordon Brown has – tantalisingly or disquietingly, depending on your perspective – raised the prospect of a referendum in Britain on the reform treaty. It is a cynical,...

The government leaders of the UK and the Netherlands are under strong pressure to organise referenda on the new reform treaty, which is scheduled for agreement at the October...

Debate in the UK is hotting up over the EU's reform treaty and whether there should be a referendum to ratify it. Gordon Brown, the prime minister, continues to insist that...

Car rental companies know that customers will never clean their cars before returning them. For a simple reason – they do not own them. Such a sense of ownership is what is...

There is not much left of the lofty ambition of former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to give the EU a constitution equal to the text drafted by the...