EU facing hostile voters in three referenda in three months

The EU is facing a democratic crisis with both Hungary and the Netherlands holding referenda on key decisions before the EU referendum in the UK.

The Netherlands is holding a referendum in April on the EU's treaty of association with Ukraine. The referendum on this treaty is being treated as a proxy vote on the Netherlands' relationship with the EU as a whole and opinion is as divided in the Netherlands as it is here.

Hungary, meanwhile, is holding a referendum on the EU's imposition of quotas for illegal immigrants which requires Hungary - along with other member states - to take a quota of illegal immigrants from other EU countries that are bearing the brunt of the EU's disastrous open door immigration policy.

While the Dutch (being "good Europeans" and one of the handful of net contributors to the EU budget) have been left to get on with their referendum, the Hungarians have been told that a referendum doesn't "fit into the decisions making process" by the EU Commission.

A survey by a leading Dutch pollster has found that a majority of Dutch people want a referendum on membership of the EU with a very small majority wanting out. The poll also finds that Geert Wilders' anti-immigration, anti-EU PVV is the most popular party in the Netherlands, enjoying almost double the support of the ruling VVD.