Kiev Confident of Visa-Free Travel to EU Despite Dutch Rejection

KIEV (Sputnik) – A rejection of the Ukraine-EU association deal in this week's Dutch referendum will not hinder the introduction of a visa-free regime with the European Union, the Ukrainian presidential administration said Friday.

On Wednesday, 61.1 percent of Dutch voters rejected the EU-Ukraine association deal’s ratification in the advisory referendum, according to preliminary results.

"What happened in the Netherlands will in no way affect our course toward introducing a visa-free regime with the European Union," Deputy Head of Presidential Administration Konstantin Eliseev said.

A Polish Foreign Ministry press office told Sputnik earlier in the day that the Dutch referendum would "not stop Ukraine’s integration with the European Union."

"We expect that in the near future, as promised by our European partners, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will introduce for European Parliament and EU Council’s consideration legislative proposals on the introduction of a visa-free regime," Eliseev stressed.

The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, establishing a political and economic association between Kiev and Brussels, was signed in 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 yet to ratify the agreement. The Dutch government decided to hold a non-binding referendum after over 400,000 people signed a petition to put the matter to a nationwide vote.

A turnout of 32.2 percent passed the 30-percent threshold to give the public vote legal weight, prompting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to admit Amsterdam could reconsider ratifying the association deal.