Referenda and their impact on the future of a united Europe. Brexit and the shape of the European Union

Abstract

The practice of using direct democracy in the European Union’s countries shows that ‘European’ issues have become an increasingly popular subject of public debate and then of referendum votes. The use of national referenda in deciding on European integration process is not a new phenomenon – the first referendum on this subject was held in 1972. Since then European integration has been the subject of sixty popular votes – in EU member states, candidate states and in third countries. It can be said that the majority of experience related to direct democracy in the EU is rather positive, but there have been some votes that have brought serious problems to the European Union. One such example is the British referendum of 2016 on further membership of the EU. This referendum provoked a huge debate on the future shape of the Community and the further directions of integration in Europe. The main objective of this paper is to answer the question of the impact of European referenda on the future shape of the EU (with particular attention paid to the 2016 referendum on Brexit).