Samenvatting

This study was commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for
Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on
Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament. It analyses the political and legal
dynamics behind referendums on EU-related matters. It argues that we have
entered a period of increasing political uncertainty with regard to the European
project and that this new political configuration will both affect and be affected by
the politics of EU-related referendums. Such referendums have long been a risky
endeavour and this has been accentuated in the wake of the Great Recession with
its negative ramifications for public opinion in the European Union. It is clear that
referendums on EU matters are here to stay and will continue to be central to the
EU’s future as they are deployed to determine the number of Member States within
the EU, its geographical reach, its constitutional evolution and adherence to EU
policies. Only now they have become an even riskier endeavour.