In the Netherlands ended with a referendum in which the Dutch were to give your opinion, should the government to ratify the Agreement on Association of Ukraine with the EU. And although the official results will be announced only on 12 April, it is already possible to say that the opponents of this agreement have won. For ratification voted 38 per cent of the Dutch, against 61 per cent. The turnout was 32 percent, this is enough to declare the referendum to be held.
Since the referendum was of a consultative nature, the government is under no obligation to take the results into account. But Dutch politicians are confident that they cannot be ignored. But because the Prime Minister of the Netherlands mark Rutte did not rule out the rejection of the ratification of the agreement (that insist on it, for example, the left socialist party and the far-right freedom Party). However, before a final decision is still far away, the issue will be discussed in the national Parliament and in the EU.
A failure to ratify would lead to complication of relations of the Netherlands with the European Union, but practically does not change the current situation in relations between Ukraine and the EU. The economic part of the Association Agreement already in force, albeit temporarily. On political issues, each country will decide individually, as well as 27 other members of the community have already ratified the document (although, without referenda), the last word will be for the Netherlands.
According to experts, given the fact that the country would hold parliamentary elections, and anti-European sentiment among the Dutch gaining popularity in the backdrop of terrorist attacks and of the migration crisis, the outcome of the referendum will be taken very seriously.
Interestingly, the Ukrainian authorities the results of the voting in the Netherlands reacted rather calmly. President Petro Poroshenko said that “the referendum is purely Advisory in nature, it is up to the government”. “I am sure that strategically this event was not an obstacle on the way of Ukraine to Europe”, – said Poroshenko. He even expressed confidence that the true goal of the organizers of the referendum is “an attack on the unity of Europe, the attack on the spreading of European values”.
He retained his confidence that Ukraine is still going to become part of a United Europe. What do you think, whether Ukraine will join the EU?
{{ poll_variant.votes }}
{{ poll_variant.vote_percents }}%
{{ poll_variant.answer }}
Total votes: {{ rs.votes_count }}
