Dutch Gov't to Offer Declaration for Overcoming EU-Ukraine Treaty Impasse

Dutch government will offer a declaration to find a way out of the impasse following the country’s rejection of the EU’s treaty with Ukraine, local media reported Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The DutchNews.nl news portal reported, citing the NRC Handelsblad newspaper, that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is expected to use the Ireland’s experience, when it rejected the Lisbon treaty in 2009, for the current deadlock.

According to the news outlet, the declaration will stipulate that the treaty is not a bridge for Ukraine to join the European Union, and that it will not guarantee financial support, military alliance and access for the Ukrainians to the EU labor market.

On Friday, Rutte said that a rejection of the treaty could undermine a European unity, but he would have no other choice but to send the draft bill on Netherlands’ opposition to the EU-Ukraine association treaty before November 1 if he failed to get support over the weekend.

In 2014, the European Union signed an agreement with Ukraine to deepen political association and economic integration. Ukraine had to implement a series of political and economic reforms to gain free-trade access to the EU market.

In April, the Netherlands held a referendum in which 61 percent of Dutch voters rejected the ratification of the deal. Currently, the Netherlands is the only EU state, which has not yet ratified the agreement.