Anti-democratic EU - When voters do not vote the right way

[BoyRacer]

Dutch reject EU-Ukraine deal - → politico.eu/article/low-turn … aine-deal/

The Dutch government suffered an embarrassing defeat Wednesday as voters overwhelmingly rejected an EU deal with Ukraine, with 61.1 percent voting No, according to public broadcaster NOS.
The vote was seen as a test of public opinion towards the EU and comes less than three months before British citizens decide whether to leave the EU altogether.
Turnout was 32.2 percent, above the 30 percent threshold needed to send the issue back to parliament. Earlier projections had put turnout at just under the 30 percent threshold.

there is more

Brussels to press on with Ukraine visa plan despite Dutch ‘no’ - → dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2 … -dutch-no/

After No Dutchman: Green MEP rejects EU referendum - google translate] → spiegel.de/politik/ausland/r … 86067.html

The clear rejection in the referendum showed the attitude of the Dutch people to Ukraine Agreement. But: Many pages comes criticism of the referendum itself now has the parliamentary leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, Rebecca Harms, opposed direct democracy at the expense of Europe… Plebiscitary elements to European policies, which are designed as the vote on Wednesday, could “jeopardize in their stock,” the EU, she said the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”.
It is “already on the other hand,” to take a vote matters in individual states, the EU cover a total, so Harms. The plebiscite in the Netherlands have pointed out further weaknesses of referendums. “There was a campaign for the rejection, which was more directed against anything and everything up there in Brussels.”

[JohnnyTheFox]

@BoyRacer

The clear rejection in the referendum showed the attitude of the Dutch people to Ukraine Agreement.

That statement is dubious at best. There are two major factors which make this referendum anything but a clear indication of the attitude of the Dutch people.

1. Such referenda are not binding under Dutch law, and the widely held expectation is that the Dutch government will go ahead and ratify anyway, so there was an incentive for the electorate to view this as a vote that did not matter and which was not worth the effort of trying to get to the polling station on a work day.
2. The 30% threshold for a referendum to be valid creates an odd incentive. I personally know voters who firmly believed in the “For” cause but made the conscious choice not to vote because they hoped that, by abstaining, they could keep the total votes below 30% and therefore the referendum wouldn’t be valid. That almost worked. The turnout was only 32.2%. If another 5.7% of those who voted ‘For’ had abstained it would have been enough.

[FreeFallin]

Well, when viewed in conjunction with other referendi(?) results around the EU over the past few years, perhaps it does reflect the Dutch people’s attitude.

Should we make them vote again!

[JohnnyTheFox]

@FreeFallin

Well, when viewed in conjunction with other referendi(?) results around the EU over the past few years, perhaps it does reflect the Dutch people’s attitude.

Should we make them vote again!

Agreed, it reflects that attitude of a certain percentage of the population to the EU. It tells us very little about their attitude to Ukraine as even the promoters of the referendum acknowledged that this was just the first issue that presented itself on which it was convenient to hang an EU bashing referendum. To be honest the Dutch people have really gone down in my estimation. To allow their insularity and selfishness to result in them effectively siding with those responsible for the deaths of 200 of their compatriots (MH17), against their fellow victims in that conflict, is reprehensible.