EU legitimacy in question

Referendums are dangerous for the EU. In recent years, almost all popular votes on EU matters ended up with the same answer: No.

The vote with the most far-reaching consequences was Britain's EU membership referendum on 23 June, when 51.9 percent of voters chose the most radical option: leaving the Union.

Only weeks before, in April, 61.1 percent of voters in a Dutch referendum had rejected an EU-Ukraine association agreement, casting doubts on the bloc's strategy to stabilise the...