Referendum as a Tool for Building European Identity. The Case of Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands

Résumé 0

Hitherto, forty-one national referendums have been conducted on European integration in over twenty countries. While it is clear that this process has not led to a widely shared common identity, this paper explores the hypothesis that national referendums on European issues do in fact contribute to the emergence of a European identity. I will propose three mechanisms by which this is likely to happen. Firstly, although referendums and especially the debate preceding them may sharpen the divide between Europhiles and Euroskeptics, they bear the potential to bring into the public sphere awareness of European issues and therefore to spark a learning process. Secondly, the debates triggered by referendums give rise to the emergence of a European public sphere, even in member-states which do not conduct referendums. Thirdly, they can contribute to narrowing the gap between political elites and ordinary citizens, thereby reducing the democratic deficit. In addition to the burgeoning literature on the topic, which however focuses on the relationship between referendums and support for European integration, Eurobarometers provide substantive and quantitative data on the issues –namely European referendums and identities– raised in this paper. The study will focus on the twenty-seven referendums of the post-Treaty of Maastricht era. The discussion of the concept of European identity opens the essay. In the following sections, I present briefly the political and historical context in regard to referendums upon which I attempt to demonstrate the three specific mechanisms (learning process, European public sphere, and reduction of the democratic deficit) in the emergence of a European identity, using Eurobarometers data which show the evolution of national and European identification before and after the organization of the referendums. The conclusion discusses the findings and explores other elements that matter in constructing a European identity.