The Netherlands has threatened to scupper a trade and security deal between the Ukraine and the EU unless it receives legally binding guarantees at a summit of European leaders next week.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mark Rutte, Dutch prime minister, outlined his demands for a decision signed by EU heads of government, making clear that the “association agreement” will not create a defence guarantee for Ukraine or be a step towards its eventual membership of the bloc.
If we do not get this we will put a law to parliament the next day, which will state that we will not ratify the association agreement
“If we do not get this we will put a law to parliament the next day, which will state that we will not ratify the association agreement,” said Mr Rutte.
The deal between Ukraine and the EU was supposed to deepen political, economic and trade links. But the Dutch voted against the deal by a margin of nearly two-to-one in a referendum in April, fearing that the deal could lead to the Netherlands having to provide financial or even military support to Ukraine. Hanging over the campaign was the MH17 disaster, in which 196 Dutch people died when a passenger aircraft was shot down while flying over Ukraine.
Although the referendum turnout was low and the result non-binding, most parties agreed to abide by the outcome, triggering months of talks between The Hague and Brussels.
Leaders from the EU’s 28 member states meet in Brussels on Thursday to try to save the deal, which has been ratified by all EU member states except the Netherlands. “We are working on addressing the concerns that were raised in the referendum,” said Mr Rutte.
Some EU countries want to leave the door open to Kiev’s eventually joining the bloc despite fierce opposition from countries such as the Netherlands. Supporters of the association agreement see it as a bulwark against Russian aggression in Ukraine.
There is extra pressure to find a solution for the Ukraine deal after the way that EU trade policy has floundered in 2016, with even traditionally economically liberal countries such as the Netherlands becoming an obstacle.
A free-trade deal between the EU and Canada nearly collapsed after a region of Belgium refused to ratify it, triggering a week of frantic negotiations. Talks between the EU and the US stumbled after popular opposition to the deal in Germany and France.
Senior EU officials are working on a legal compromise to unblock the Ukraine deal. “It has to be legally binding,” said Mr Rutte. “If not, I do not want to go back to parliament here.”
The reason I am fighting for this is that I am absolutely convinced that Europe must be unified now towards Russia’s foreign policy
Mr Rutte made clear that he was not asking for a Dutch opt-out from the Ukraine agreement. “I am asking for quite a lot,” he said. “[But] what I am not asking for is re-ratification.”
Any compromise reached by EU leaders may still struggle to find support in the Netherlands. Mr Rutte’s government has no majority in the senate, which may oppose a last-minute deal between Brussels and The Hague. Parties from both left and right had called on Mr Rutte to follow the referendum’s result.
Mr Rutte defended his decision to first seek a compromise. “It would be easy to go with the outcome of the referendum. The reason I am fighting for this is that I am absolutely convinced that Europe must be unified now towards Russia’s foreign policy.”
Wariness of Brussels among Dutch voters makes any deal politically treacherous. Although support for a full-blown EU withdrawal — a “Nexit” — has dropped since the UK’s referendum this summer, Eurosceptic parties are still forecast to do well in the Dutch elections in March. Geert Wilders’ anti-EU party PVV leads most polls, just ahead of Mr Rutte’s centre-right VVD party.
Additional reporting by Alex Barker in Brussels
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