The Netherlands will change the agreement on Ukraine's association with the EU

The Netherlands will begin negotiations with the EU to amend the agreement with Ukraine on the EU Association. This decision was taken due to the fact that the majority of the Dutch voted against EU Association with the East European country in a referendum last week. Its official results were announced on April 12th. 61% of those who voted did so against the ratification of the agreement on the association of Ukraine with the EU.

Triumph for the eurosceptics

According to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the authorities intend to discuss the draft agreement with the EU and make changes to it in accordance with the will of the voters. The essence of the changes has not yet been disclosed. It is expected that the negotiations will begin after June 23rd, when a referendum on the EU's relationship with the UK will take place. The EU authorities fear that negotiations on the Ukrainian problem can increase the number of those who would like to see Britain leave the EU.

Within the EU, the Dutch referendum results are considered to be a triumph for the Euroskeptics, who effectively stopped the process of EU enlargement and the introduction of a visa-free regime with a country immersed in civil war. In any other conditions, the EU could simply ignore the results of the people's will, but now it will be an additional trump-card for the supporters of the significant limitation of the EU’s supranational bodies, or for leaving the EU entirely.

Oppositional Criticism

The Dutch opposition sharply criticized the decision of the Government. All opposition parties, including the left-wing Socialists, the right-wing party "Christian Democratic Appeal", and nationalists of the "Freedom Party" expressed their support against the ratification of the agreement on association with Ukraine.

Ukraine: Groysman instead of Yatsenyuk

An important element, feeding a negative attitude towards Ukraine, is the worsening of the country's political crisis: corruption scandals, the war in Donbass, and rampant crime and violence courtesy of neo-Nazi gangs. However, Ukraine’s leadership is not going to change anything in the country, something evidenced by the fact that instead of involving the former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, they chose to involve Volodymyr Groysman, the man loyal to Poroshenko and current speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. The President of Ukraine has put forward Groysman’s candidacy for parliamentary approval, and is engaged in strengthening his personal power and periodically shuffling the same cards in the deck of Maidan politicians, who have long proven to be completely incompetent.

You are here

The Netherlands will change the agreement on Ukraine's association with the EU