A 'no' of the Netherlands against the association agreement with Ukraine would be for that country poor and even unpacking dangerous.
,, It reduces the stability in an already volatile region, "said Mark Rutte tonight. The prime minister considers that argument now heavier than in April, when a majority of the Dutch population is expressed in an advisory referendum on the association agreement.
Rutte reported last night to his European colleagues at a summit in Brussels that he sees little scope at present for a solution in Lower House and Senate in the Netherlands can count on a majority. And as long as such support is not there he will lay useless in Brussels proposals. The next few days Rutte goes again with the opposition at the table, but optimistic about a solution he is not, so he told his European colleagues. Who responded according to him "with understanding, but also care.
The Ukraine agreement for the European political elite already the second case headache, because the trade agreement with Canada is still hanging by a thread. Limited concessions from Brussels are 'unsatisfactory', as the Walloon Prime Minister announced yesterday, after consultation with his government. Wallonia currently blocking alone signing the treaty, which both Canada and Europe will provide a billion gain by destroying almost all tariff barriers.
'Pig in a poke'
For Rutte has to keep fighting the "geopolitical context" with an increasingly aggressive Russia, not the only reason for the coming days for the association agreement with Ukraine.He is convinced that the agreement after a Dutch no continues. Then there is damage to the Netherlands, damage to Ukraine and still won nothing. "The risk that we buy a pig in a poke," Rutte calls it.
In contacts with his European colleagues and with opposition leaders at home he is probing why for months with the points in a legally binding statement he still comes away from the quicksand. It would then go to the clear understanding that the association agreement not to sort by any Ukrainian EU membership, it does not involve security guarantees and no additional EU money for the country. President Poroshenko said yesterday to be convinced that Europe will eventually ratify the association agreement, but also that he is counting on the investigation into the MH17 air disaster now in the Netherlands after the support of his country. Rutte called the coupling 'unwise'.
The NIS Editors: Photo: Reuters
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