The centrepiece of the plan is the idea of regular referendums, initiated by voters.

投票人提出的方案中最好的一点就是公民定期投票。

This year, nearly a score of presidential or parliamentary elections or referendums have been scheduled among the 53 members of the AU.

今年，在非盟的53个成员国中，已经安排了近20次总统或议会选举或公投。

Most of these had promised referendums.

尽管其中大部分国家已经许诺采用全民公投。

Referendums are often the main instrument.

复决投票是常用的主要工具。

In two referendums, they supported the bridge plan.

在两次公民投票中，人们都支持建桥计划。

Mr Berlusconi said he would boycott the referendums.

贝卢斯科尼表示他要抵制公投。

Those would be good principles to apply to referendums, too.

另外这些不错的原则同样也适用于公民公决。

Elections are always referendums on the incumbent," said Brown.

彼得·布朗说：“选举从来都是对现任官员的一种评估。

He pointed out that they would require referendums in at least four countries.

他指出，他将在至少四个国家要求公民投票。

Europe and referendums have become ineluctably linked in the Tory imagination.

在保守党的想像中，欧盟和公投已必然地联系在一起。

Residents, for their part, will be able to instigate local referendums on any local issue.

居民将能够就当地任何重要议题进行地方公投。

But because it was turned down in the French and Dutch referendums, the treaty has not been ratified.

但是因为它在法国和荷兰的全民公投中被否决了，所以并没有正式生效。

Fianna Fail and Mr Cowen have a poor record on EU referendums, losing two out of three since 2001.

共和党和科恩在欧盟选举中的表现几乎一无是处——2001年以来输掉了三分之二的选举。

Mr Cameron has broken the link between Europe and referendums, but he cannot kill the issue altogether.

卡梅伦切断了欧洲和公投的联系，但他不可能将二者一起消灭。

In California, for instance, voters have the right to vote on specific fiscal policies in referendums.

例如，在加利福尼亚投票人有权在公投中对特别财政政策进行投票。

Elections, after all, are more unsentimental referendums on the future than they are judgments on the past.

毕竟，与其说选举是对过去的种种评价，不如说它是对未来的一种更无情的公民复投。

It is an identity that revolves around neutrality, and, yes, an awkward tradition of citizens' referendums.

这是一个徘徊在中立周围的身份，也是一个对公民公投尴尬的传统。

By contrast, his new position on referendums is sensible and mature: even a climb-down is preferable to madness.

相比之下，卡梅伦在公投问题上的新立场不仅合情合理，同时也显得成熟稳重：比起疯狂，食言要好得多。

Mr Berlusconi opted not to fight on the issues, but instead to appeal to the courts to stop the referendums happening.

贝卢斯科尼选择不在这些问题上争辩，转而向法庭献殷勤，企图阻止公投发生。

Switzerland regularly conducts referendums in which voters are supposed to chose between two options. Britain does not.

同为欧洲国家的瑞士会定期地进行一个选民参与的双选题的投票活动，而英国不会。

Reduce the number of MPs by a tenth and hand more power to backbenchers.Give local residents the right to hold referendums.

削减下议院十分之一的人数并给予后座议员席更大的权利。并给予本地居民进行全民公投的权利。

Most alarmingly, though, is that the Lisbon Treaty can be extended indefinitely without recourse to further treaties or referendums.

然而，更令人震惊的是，里斯本条约可以在未来不需要补充协议或全民公决的条件下无限期延长。

Dissent, whether expressed through referendums, elections or the debating Chambers of national parliaments, will have only a limited impact.

不同意见，不管是来自全民公决、选举还是国家的议会辩论，都只能施加有限的影响。

Unlike in places like California and Switzerland, referendums are extremely rare in Greece, with the last such vote held in 1974 when the country voted to abolish the monarchy.

和美国加州、瑞士等地不同，全民公投在希腊极其罕见，上一次公投要追溯到遥远的1974年，当时是为了废除君主制。

Through a self-amending clause it would allow ministers to abolish national vetoes without any further treaty, and so without ratification by national parliaments or referendums.

它将通过自我修正的条款，允许部长们取消国家否决，而无须更多条约，无须国家议会或公投的批准。

Following the embarrassments of the French and Dutch referendums in 2005, the EU's executive arm, which functions as a kind of ministry for further integration, entered a quiet period.

在法国和荷兰2005年令人尴尬的全民公决以后，这个以深化一体化为任务的欧盟执行机构就陷入了沉寂。

This absence, and all those lost referendums, carry a message: the great treaty-drafting machine that has kept European integration pressing forward for decades has, for now, seized up.

缺少未来计划、败北于全国公投，不难窥见如此信息：伟大的协议起草机器长达数十年忙于推动欧洲一体化，如今该机器运转失灵了。

Markets are unlikely to wait for the EU to call a constitutional convention, debate schemes for integration and negotiate a text, only to see it buffeted in parliamentary votes and referendums.

市场不可能等待欧盟召集一个制宪会议，讨论一体化的计策，并形成谈判的文本，只能看到欧盟在议会投票和公投中遭受打击。