Dissociative Disorder: Netherlands Could Torpedo Ukraine-EU Agreement

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders notified his EU counterparts on Monday that he does not rule out that the Netherlands will refuse to ratify the Ukraine —EU association agreement, a EU diplomatic source said.

"He [Koenders] said that the Dutch government cannot ratify the agreement in light of the current situation…they are pressed for time, including by the Constitution," the source told reporters in Brussels.

"A large group in the parliament has asked the government not to ratify the agreement and he [Koenders] cannot rule this out. They want to resolve this issue by the summer," the source said.

A total of 61 percent of Dutch people who cast their vote a consultative referendum on the EU-Ukraine association agreement on April 6 rejected the deal's ratification.

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 EU member state that has not yet ratified the agreement.