The vote is seen by opponents of the 28-nation EU bloc as an opportunity to express their anger at what they consider unwanted expansionism and a lack of democratic rights for EU citizens, three months before British citizens decide in their own referendum whether to leave the EU altogether.
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The polls opened early in the Netherlands after an intensive campaign in which both sides desperately tried to convince Dutch voters to either vote yes or no in a referendum on ratifying a deal fostering closer links between Ukraine and the European Union. “We have to help Ukraine build a legal system, democracy”, the premier was cited by Dutch national newswire ANP as saying. “It was more just the first issue that came along after the (referendum) law was introduced”, said Aaron Matta, senior researcher at The Hague Institute for Global Justice think-tank.
The referendum is nonbinding and may not have an immediate impact on the accord itself, but European Union officials fear a rejection by Dutch voters would represent a victory for Russian Federation, which has long tried to derail the agreement. It was the trigger for the deadly street protests in 2013 and 2014 and led to the ousting of its president, sparking Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine.
For Dutch voters “it’s not really about the Ukraine in the end”.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, rising anti-EU sentiment has focused on a trade agreement recently agreed between the bloc and Ukraine.
And while not about the Netherlands’ membership of the European Union, it comes at a time of growing euroscepticism across the European Union, with speculation that a “no” vote could play to the advantage of populist parties, particularly in the UK. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government.
However, “this is the Netherlands’ internal business”, Peskov said. Ministers have so far refused to say what they will do if a majority vote “no”, as opinion polls indicate. The newspaper didn’t divulge how many were polled.
Dutch media said only about 10 to 15 percent of voters had cast their ballots in the major cities.
Much of the deal between the European Union and Ukraine already is being provisionally implemented but the Netherlands’ ratification, approved past year by both houses of Parliament, was put on ice pending the outcome of the referendum.
“I find it idiotic that we have to have a referendum about it”, said Ottelien, a Dutch woman on a busy shopping street in Amsterdam who did not give her surname. He also condemned the European Constitution’s rebranding as the Lisbon Treaty and the words of a former Italian Prime Minister who actually boasted that “the great thing about calling it the Lisbon Treaty is that we won’t need to have referendums”.
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The referendum is non-binding and confusion amongst voters as to the actual impact of it suggests an extremely low turnout. Parts of the agreement, particularly those dealing with mutual trade, are already in force.
