Understanding Dutch Attitudes to European Integration in the Early 2000s Through the Referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty

Abstract

On 1st June 2005, Dutch citizens rejected the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (ECT) in a referendum. Reasons for this rejection have been explored in previous studies on media framing. In these studies, scholars contend that the media influence citizens’ voting behaviour through the manner in which the news is depicted. This article aims at uncovering qualitatively what frames two Dutch newspapers, NRC Handelsblad and de Volkskrant, used to report on the referendum and why. In this manner, it adds to the existing understanding of the influence of the media coverage on the Dutch electorate. The results show that the responsibility frame is the most salient frame in the news coverage on the referendum on the ECT, indicating that newspapers discussed the referendum on the ECT in terms of the invisibility of debate on Europe in general and the incumbent government’s failure to provide sufficient and reliable information on the ECT. This is striking with regard to the fact that most authors attribute the rejection to a rise in Euroscepticism or discontent with the speed and direction of the integration process.