THE IMPACT OF REFERENDUMS ON THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

Abstract

Direct democracy is becoming more and more significant in political life. Not only does it give citizens the right to choose the government, it also gives them the right to contribute to making important decisions, thus improving the quality of citizens‘ participation in politics.

One of the most popular and most commonly used forms of direct democracy used in politics is referendum, the significance of which is still increasing. Both in the countries of Western Europe, where the tradition of democracy is well established, and in Eastern and Central Europe, referenda are effective tools which complement representative power. Recently there has been a significant increase in the importance of referenda during the construction of so-called unified Europe. The aim of this article is to present the influence of referenda on the European integration process.