Netherlands Rejects EU-Ukraine Partnership Deal

• 04.07.2016, 10:31
•  Europe,  World

Robin van Lonkhuijsen / AFP

Voters in the Netherlands have rejected in a referendum an EU partnership deal to remove trade barriers with Ukraine, BBC reports.

The deal was rejected by 61.1% of votes compared with 38.1% in favour.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte told that as the vote is not binding,  the government may have to reconsider the deal.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko insisted his country would "continue our movement towards the EU".

A foreign ministry official in Kiev told the BBC that the result was disappointing, adding that Dutch Eurosceptics could not take Ukraine hostage to express dissatisfaction with the EU.

It was triggered by an internet petition begun by Eurosceptic activists that attracted some more than 400,000 signatures.

The result creates a headache for the Dutch government as the Dutch parliament ratified the EU association agreement with Ukraine last year. All the other 27 EU member states have already ratified the deal.

Mr Rutte told that the ratification cannot go ahead without discussion .

Geert Wilders, who leads the anti-EU and anti-Islam Freedom Party, said the result was the "beginning of the end for the EU", because the vote was a test of public opinion towards the EU.