ABSTRACT
The European integration process has been increasingly exposed to national referendums, among which the Spanish, French, Dutch and Luxembourg votes of 2005 are the most recent manifestations. This overall diffusion and intensification of the referendum phenomenon in Europe is not only linked to the process of EU integration but is directly caused by the latter. EU integration even causes referendums to take place in non-member states. Yet, if among these Switzerland had the most frequent EU-related use of direct democratic instruments, in contrast to a number of the EU member states, such as the Netherlands or Luxembourg, the Swiss electorate did not have to wait for outside events to put European matters on their agenda and force popular votes. This is because nowhere else in the world are the instruments of direct democracy more developed and more utilized than in Switzerland.
