|
|
|
| REFERENDUMS
HELD ON EUROPEAN MATTERS: 1
1975: EC Membership
(67,23 % Yes. 64,03 Turnout) |
| |
CONSTITUTIONAL
CONDITIONS - European
Communities Act 1972
Binding referendum requires a legal implementation as a part of
the ratification-process. Consultative referendum can anyhow be
held if ordered by ad-hoc-law (UK has no written constitution). |
| |
PROCEDURE
AND DEBATE
The
debate within the Conservative Party was muted due to the need to
close ranks before the coming general election in May 1992. However,
the election led to a small Conservative majority of 21 MPs which
was to have strong effects on British European policy — the
small Conservative majority made it possible for the adherents to
the interstate cooperation discourse to threaten the government’s
attempt to ratify the TEU, aided by Labour which wanted to exploit
the split politically. An ardent debate followed when the parliamentary
procedures for the legislation in relation to the Maastricht Treaty
started in spring 1992. Because of the strong position of the Eurosceptics
in the Conservative Party after the 1992 general election who adhered
to the interstate cooperation discourse, the government increasingly
had to accommodate this group, and increasingly the sceptical line
against the TEU was favoured by government ministers.
In
November 1992, the government won a narrow majority in the debate
on the ratification of the Maastricht Treaty. The vote went in favour
of the government motion because of the support of the Liberal Democrats.
In May 1993 the Conservatives lost a key seat to the Liberal Democrats
in a by-election. In July the Maastricht Treaty was finally ratified
by parliament.
|
| |
RELEVANT
DOCUMENTS AND MATERIAL
König,
T. Hug, S. (2000), Ratifying
Maastricht - Parliamentary Votes on International Treaties and Theoretical
Solution Concepts, European Union Politics, Volume 1 (1): 93–124.
Larsen, H. (1999),
British
and Danish European Policies in the 1990s: A Discourse Approach,
European Journal of International Relations, Vol. 5(4): 451–483.
Best, E. (1994),
The United Kingdom and the Ratification of the Maastricht Treaty,
in Finn Laursen and Sophie Vanhoonacker (eds) Ratification of the
Maastricht
Treaty: Issues, Debate and Future Implications, Dordrecht: Martinus
Nijhoff Publishers, pp. 245–78. |
|
