Against referendums

In an interview published by the Polish daily, Bronisław Geremek, former Polish Foreign Minister and currently MEP for the liberal Democratic Party, speaks out against referendums on the EU Reform Treaty: "To ask citizens whether they accept or reject a 450-page text on complex legal issues is nonsense. This is like asking them whether they accept the penal code. You cannot expect the average citizen to have an informed opinion on these matters. ... In the case of the Lisbon Treaty, a document which was drawn up by the elite, the principle of representative democracy should apply. That means that democratically elected politicians should make the decision about whether to accept it. ... The sociology of politics shows that the elites have often played a decisive role in the past. ... We have a representative system and this is why ratification by the parliaments appears to be the correct solution."

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