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I am for Lithuania's membership of the European Union. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2003 Lithuanian European Union referendum took place from 10 May to 11 May 2003 to decide whether Lithuania should join the European Union (EU). Over 90% of those who voted supported membership and Lithuania joined the EU on 1 May 2004.
Lithuania was invited to begin negotiations to join the EU in December 1999 at a European Council summit in Helsinki and was formally invited to join the EU in December 2002 at a summit in Copenhagen.
In June 2002 and February 2003 the Lithuanian Parliament amended Lithuania's laws on referendums. Previously, for a referendum to pass, 50% of the voters had to vote and over 50% of all eligible registered voters had to support the proposal. After the amendment only a simple majority of participants in favour was required for the referendum to pass, while still having the requirement for turnout to be over 50%. To help reach the turnout requirement, the voting hours were extended, postal voting was allowed for 11 days before the referendum, and a second voting day was added. In January 2003 parliament then set the date for EU referendum to be the 10–11 May and set the question for the vote. [1] [2]
Lithuanian voters were asked to vote yes or no to the statement:
I am for Lithuania's membership of the European Union. [1]
An information campaign on the European Union was begun in 2000 and involved the Elderships of Lithuania and the Catholic Church. Opinion polls, which at the end of 1999 had only 29% supporters of the EU, showed a steady rise in support in the years leading up to the referendum. [1]
Virtually all of Lithuania's major political parties supported membership of the EU and opinion polls as the date approached showed about 65% of voters would vote yes. [3] The President of Lithuania Rolandas Paksas, who once competed in aerobatics competitions, flew around Lithuania in his plane performing stunts to raise enthusiasm. [4] The campaign was very one-sided with only a poorly organised No campaign based on milk producers, Russian speakers and right wing nationalists. [1]
The biggest concern for the yes campaign was whether turnout would reach the 50% required for the referendum to be valid. [3] After the first day of voting turnout was only 30% and both the President Paksas and Prime Minister Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas appeared on TV to urge Lithuanians to vote. [5] Main reason for worry was that turnout might be as low as in Hungary just a month ago.
There was a surge in voting on the Sunday with many people voting after church services. [6] Lithuanian supermarkets also had a campaign on the second day of voting, offering cheaper beer, carbonated soft drink, chocolate and soap to those who showed they had voted. [1] In the end there were queues outside some voting booths and turnout was over 60%, safely over the required level. [7] [8]
| Choice | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For | 1,504,264 | 91.07 | |
| Against | 147,527 | 8.93 | |
| Total | 1,651,791 | 100.00 | |
| Valid votes | 1,651,791 | 98.77 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 20,526 | 1.23 | |
| Total votes | 1,672,317 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,638,886 | 63.37 | |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver [9] | |||
Celebrations were held in Lithuania's capital Vilnius following the referendum. A concert was held near the Presidential palace, President Paksas addressed the crowd saying "Hello Europeans!" and the Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas and parliamentary speaker Artūras Paulauskas cut a referendum cake. The European Commission President Romano Prodi congratulated Lithuania on the referendum result. [10]
Politics of Lithuania takes place in a framework of a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Lithuania is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Lithuania is the head of government, and of a multi-party system.
Referendums in the United Kingdom are occasionally held at a national, regional or local level. Historically, national referendums are rare due to the long-standing principle of parliamentary sovereignty. There is no constitutional requirement to hold a national referendum for any purpose or on any issue; the UK Parliament is free to legislate through an Act of Parliament for a referendum to be held on any question at any time, but these cannot be constitutionally binding on either the Government or Parliament, although they usually have a persuasive political effect.
This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate states, and their territories, with several additional referendums held in countries outside the EU. The referendums have been held most commonly on the subject of whether to become a member of European Union as part of the accession process, although the EU does not require any candidate country to hold a referendum to approve membership or as part of treaty ratification. Other EU-related referendums have been held on the adoption of the euro and on participation in other EU-related policies.
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A referendum on joining the European Union was held in Hungary on 12 April 2003. The proposal was approved by 83.8% of voters, with a voter turnout of 45.6%. Hungary subsequently joined the EU on 1 May 2004.
Five referendums were held in Switzerland during 2005. The first two were held on 5 June on Switzerland joining the Schengen Area and whether registered partnerships for same-sex couples should be introduced. Both questions were approved. The third was held on 25 September on a federal resolution on extending the agreement on free movement of people to new members of the European Union, and was also approved. The final two were held on 27 November on a popular initiative "for food from an agriculture free of genetic modification" and on a labour law related to the opening times of shops in public transport hubs. Both were approved.
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A referendum on the EU accession of the Republic of Croatia was held on 22 January 2012. Croatia finished accession (membership) negotiations on 30 June 2011 and signed the Treaty of Accession on 9 December 2011, setting it on course to become the bloc's 28th member state. The Constitution of Croatia requires that a binding referendum be held on any political union reducing national sovereignty, such as via European Union membership. On 23 December 2011 the Croatian Parliament made a preliminary decision on EU accession and determined that the referendum would be held on 22 January 2012. The 2012 Croatian EU accession referendum was the first referendum held in Croatia since the Croatian independence referendum held more than 20 years earlier, in 1991.
Parliamentary elections were held in Lithuania on 14 October 2012, with a second round on 28 October in the constituencies where no candidate won a majority in the first round of voting. All 141 seats in the Seimas were up for election; 71 in single-seat constituencies elected by majority vote and the remaining 70 in a nationwide constituency based on proportional representation. Together with the elections, a referendum on the construction of a new nuclear power plant was held.
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A referendum related to the European Union's migrant relocation plans was held in Hungary on 2 October 2016. The referendum was initiated by the government, under the provision of article 8 of the new constitution of 2012. It was commonly referred to as the kvótanépszavazás or kvótareferendum in the Hungarian media.
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