15:53 15.04.2016

Brussels needs to think what to do next after Ukraine-EU association referendum in Netherlands - Ukrainian foreign minister

1 min read
Brussels needs to think what to do next after Ukraine-EU association referendum in Netherlands - Ukrainian foreign minister

The referendum on the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement held in the Netherlands was related to issues of the Dutch people in the first turn, while Ukrainian issues came next, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said.

"The entire idea of the referendum obviously did not relate to EU-Ukraine association. It was about the attitude of the Dutch people to the European Union," the minister said at the Kyiv security forum on Friday.

The Dutch referendum result became a pivotal moment for the European Union, which now needs to decide what to do with this result, he said.

In the words of Klimkin, his ministry did unique work before the referendum, which combined the efforts of politicians, parliament deputies and Ukrainian society in the campaign backing EU-Ukraine association in the Netherlands.

On April 12, the Dutch Electoral Council announced official results of the advisory referendum on the approval of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement at the national parliament. According to the report, 61% (about 2.5 million people) objected to the parliamentary act of the kind, 38.21% (approximately 1.57 million) voted in favor. Voter turnout stood at 32.38% (some 4.15 million out of approximately 12.86 million eligible voters participated).

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