Elements of direct democracy in the recent practice of European countries: some thoughts à propos the Roundtable ‘Constitutional Change and People

How can the general public participate in constitution-making and constitution-amending procedures? Are popular initiatives in constitutional change more desirable or feasible in European countries today? The recent Roundtable ‘Constitutional Change and People’, organised by the University of Luxembourg and the International Association of Constitutional Law (Constitution-Making and Constitutional Change Research Group) on December 12th 2014, dealt with these issues.

The discussion was prompted by ongoing developments in some European countries, which reveal a tendency to introduce elements of direct democracy, such as referendums, online petitions and citizens’ initiatives into the field of constitutional change. The introductory address by the President of the European Court of Justice Prof. Dr. Vasileios Skouris, underlined the difficulties that many European constitutions face in integrating the ‘European phenomenon’. The interaction between the European legal order and national constitutions is still a source of legal uncertainty. There is a movement towards strengthening the possibility of people contributing to constitutional changes around the world in general, and in Europe specifically, after the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty. The timeliness of analysing recent examples of people’s participation in constitutional changes in France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Romania and Switzerland, therefore, becomes evident.