Referendum is risky in times of crisis

In an interview at the start of the week Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble discussed the possibility of a referendum on an amendment to the constitution that would pave the way for the transfer of nation state powers to the EU. But relying on the wisdom of the people is a risky business in these times of crisis, the left-liberal daily Süddeutsche Zeitung contends: "In what today we regard as the golden, pre-crisis times, the politicians of the nation states always had an easy victim at hand: Brussels. The cheap accusations against eurocratic regulating fever were always sure to garner applause at home. ... This certainly doesn't make it any easier to advertise for more Europe now that almost everything is going wrong. Even in the event that Europe manages to put the crisis behind it, the story that has now been created will have a lasting impact. It tells of thrifty and hard-working Germans who have to pay the bills for the lazy southern Europeans. It makes Europe look like a house in which many make themselves comfortable while the Germans pay the rent. This has prepared fertile ground for a campaign of the eurosceptics, who ahead of a referendum will organise themselves as never before."

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