今天练习阅读（经济学人杂志）碰到两个句子不理解，往高人答复

TheAssembly

先贴原文网址：http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14573513&source=features_box2

两个句子：

1.（第一段中）For the second time they are being asked to vote in a referendum on a new rulebook for the European Union that would make it harder for individual governments to block initiatives，...

block innitiatives是什么意思？

2.（第三段第四行）No other country has dared to hold a popular vote on the treaty, which itself only exists because its earlier incarnation—the grandly named Constitutional Treaty—was rejected by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005.

hold a popular vote是什么意思?为什么说No other country has dared to hold a popular vote ？

hammyhui

 a popular vote: let everybody vote.