JAN HERFKENS, a 25-year-old law student in Amsterdam, did not want to vote in the Netherlands’ recent referendum on the European Union’s trade deal with Ukraine. “We already have one big referendum,” he says, meaning the general election; he would rather elect representatives to handle policy issues than vote on them himself. The rejection by 61% of voters of the trade deal only created “disorder and chaos” for the government, he thinks.
Mr Herfkens seems to be in the minority. Europe is seeing a rising tide of referendums. In the 1970s, on average, three were held each year. Now the figure …read more
Source: The Economist
