"I think that political debates will take place next week. We will introduce the bill in parliament, I think in January. Then the parliament will need to make a decision on the procedure [ratification]," Rutte said after an EU leaders’ summit on Thursday, adding that the Dutch government wants to accelerate the process.
The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement was signed in 2014, and is required to be ratified by all 28 member states of the European Union to enter into force. The agreement has not yet been ratified by the Netherlands, whose nationals rejected the deal in an April referendum.
President of the European Council Donald Tusk told journalists after an EU leaders’ summit on Thursday that a legally-binding decision had been adopted by the leaders in order to facilitate the ratification of the deal by the Netherlands.
