Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks at a press conference after the EU summit in Bratislava, September 2016.Ronald Zak/Press Association. All rights reserved.Referendums are unpredictable and often fail to settle the question on the ballot paper. This political truism has been ignored by European governments several times over the past decade, giving many leaders a bloody nose – most recently British Prime Minister David Cameron, who lost his job over Brexit.
The latest referendum, in Hungary last Sunday, did not qualify because the turnout did not reach the 50% threshold. It looks like governments cannot win a referendum on anything in Europe these days – which should give Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pause for thought, as he has just set December 4 as the date for a constitutional referendum that will define his premiership.
