Dutch referendum on the European Constitution

The Dutch referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe is a referendum to be held on 1 June 2005 to decide whether the Netherlands should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union.

The vote will be the first national referendum in modern Dutch history, and will be consultative, meaning that if the electorate were to reject the Constitution it could theoretically still be ratified by the Estates-General. The government has said it will abide by a decisive result.

Question

The question for the referendum is:

Bent U voor of tegen instemming door Nederland met het verdrag tot vaststelling van een grondwet voor Europa?

Which translates as:

Are you for or against approval by the Netherlands of the treaty establishing a constitution for Europe?

The possible answers are voor (in favour), tegen (against), and it is possible to vote blank. The latter will not count for the result, but will count for the turnout percentage.

Campaign

€1 million will be allocated for the campaign: €400,000 to political parties in support of the Constitution, €400,000 for those against, and €200,000 for general information and public education. The governing and major opposition parties are in favour of the constitution, but the Socialist Party, List Pim Fortuyn, Groep Wilders, Political Reformed Party and Christian Union will all campaign for a 'no' vote.

Opinion polls have tended to show the public split on the issue, but as many as half of the electorate admit to having little or no knowledge of the contents and provisions of the Constitution.

A vote test called referendumwijzer was launched April 21, but critics have argued that it is biased towards the Constitution, pointing to even those most strongly against the Constitution getting results in favour of it.

External links

• BBC: EU faces Dutch grudge test 26 October 2004
• BBC: Dutch plan June vote on EU treaty 23 February 2005
• EUobserver: Dutch referendum date announced 23 February 2005
• Pro Euro Graphics