PRESS RELEASE

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Dutch Parliament Discards Population’s ‘No’ Vote against EU Deal with Ukraine

Feb. 23, 2017 (EIRNS)—By a great majority, the members of the Netherlands’ national parliament on Feb. 21 gave the scandalous go-ahead for the government’s signature on the European Union-Ukraine association agreement. The two government parties, VVD and PvdA, voted for the resolution, as did the two opposition parties, D66 and Green List. The majority of the parliament thereby ignored the result of the national referendum in April 2016, in which 61% voted against the Ukraine deal, and only 38% for it. The Parliament has now authorized government to ratify the deal as the last EU member-state holding out.

The referendum was non-binding, but the parliament and government would have done better to respect it, because the country will hold national elections on March 15. The views of 2.5 million Dutch voters were ignored by this parliamentary vote, which may lead to unpleasant surprises at the polls in less than three weeks.