MOSCOW (Sputnik) — 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 that has not yet ratified the agreement.
"If we do not get this [legally binding guarantees] we will put a law to parliament the next day, which will state that we will not ratify the association agreement," Rutte told The Financial Times newspaper.
Rutte stressed that he was not asking for a re-ratification of the deal and would continue to search for a compromise.
"The reason I am fighting for this [compromise] is that I am absolutely convinced that Europe must be unified now towards Russia’s foreign policy," Rutte said.
