The people of the Netherlands will have a chance to express their opinion about the association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine during an April 6 referendum.
While Dutch citizens see the vote as a way to make their discontent with the EU heard, Ukrainian diplomats fear it may jeopardize the country’s ambitions to draw closer to the 28-nation bloc politically and economically.
The Dutch parliament ratified the association agreement in July. The coming referendum is a non-binding vote, where voters will approve or disapprove of the decision.
The government still stands by its decision to approve the association agreement with Ukraine and Georgia, two former Soviet republics.
The referendum question, “Are you for or against the Approval Act of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine?” was offered by the Burger Committee and Forum for Democracy think tank organizations and the right-wing news website geenstijl.nl.
In six weeks, organizers collected 450,000 signatures to hold a national referendum, far more than the required minimum of 300,000 signatures.
The referendum stems from two worries: anxiety about the possible expansion of the EU, stirred by the flood of migrants to Europe, and discontent with the actions of the EU government in Brussels, a movement known as Euroskepticism.
The referendum is a way to protest how the EU functions, and is not against Ukraine, according to organizers.
Van Rossem, an activist from the geenstijl.nl website, said organizers have chosen the association agreement to vote on because Dutch law limits the options on referendum topics.
“We chose Ukraine as a subject and are using that in order to put a bigger question on the table, namely to address the lack of democracy and democratic participation in Europe,” said Rossem.
While Rossem says the voting is “not against Ukraine,” the website of Forum for Democracy paints a gloomy picture of Ukraine to persuade people to vote against it in the referendum. In the website’s most recent article, “Ukraine’s Treaty is Bad for All Political Forces,” Ukraine is described as a state of economic crisis, refugees, and human, weapons and organ trafficking.
“Ukraine is in deep economic crisis due to the conflict with Russia. So who will pay for its ticket to Europe? We will,” the article reads.
Ukrainian diplomats are worried that the Dutch vote can harm Ukraine.
“By voting against the agreement, the Dutch will think they are harming the European Union. But instead, they will hurt Ukraine,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large, told the Kyiv Post.
According to Rossem, most Dutch people consider Ukraine to be a country in transition: Not ready to join the EU, yet willing to be independent. But according to Rossem, the MH17 disaster in 2014 and the poor manner in which both the Dutch and Ukrainian governments are handling the investigation tipped the scales toward a negative perception of Ukraine.
Kuleba thinks the results of the referendum could damage Ukraine’s reputation in the EU.
“We need to tell the Dutch people about Ukraine more and more, because the lack of information forces them to believe in myths,” said Kuleba.
Ukraine has supporters in the Netherlands, too.
Political organizations and foundations launched information campaigns to convince the Dutch that Ukraine is a promising state, so a vote for it in the referendum is a vote for the future and stability of the EU.
“The Dutch people do not know much about Ukraine,” said Arjen Berkvens, director of the Max van der Stoel Foundation and Eastern Europe curator of the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity, the two organizations that got subsidies from the Dutch government for their pro-Ukrainian information campaign.
“People in my country are afraid of the war in the east of your country and the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. People are also afraid of all this because of the MH17 disaster, (killing all 298 people on board, most of them Dutch). This is a big trauma for my country,” Berkvens told the Kyiv Post.
According to Ukraine’s Kuleba, the process of ratification of the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine is not complete, and a negative vote could lead to the Netherlands not finalizing the ratification.
“This doesn’t mean that the agreement won’t be valid. It can work for short-term use. But at the legislative level it will hang by a thread,” said Kuleba.
Oleksandr Snidalov, a EuroMaidan Revolution activist in the Netherlands, thinks that the Dutch parliament could change its decision to please voters before the 2017 parliamentary elections.
Berkvens said that even though the government is in favor of the agreement, it may follow the result of the referendum “because it’s the will of the people.”
