First Amsterdam Residents Vote in Referendum on Ukraine-EU Association Deal

AMSTERDAM (Sputnik) — According to a RIA Novosti correspondent, there is a brisk turnout with some 100 residents of the Dutch capital attending a voting station in the Public Library of Amsterdam in the first hour after polls opened at 7:30 a.m. local time (05:30 GMT). 

The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, establishing a political and economic association between Kiev and Brussels, was signed in June 2014. It commits Kiev to implementing vast reforms in order to meet the bloc’s high economic, political, social, legal and technical criteria. It also grants Ukraine expanded access to the EU single market.

The Netherlands is the only member state that has not ratified the deal. If the turnout at the referendum is more than 30 percent, the results will have to be taken into account by the Dutch parliament. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who supports the deal, has also said that the referendum is of great importance to the Netherlands.

The Dutch government decided to hold a public referendum on the deal after a public petition against Ukraine’s Association with the bloc gathered 427,000 signatures last year.