Initiators of "Ukraine" referendum in Netherlands said their real goal - pressure on Dutch relations with EU

31.03.2016 12:36

Ukrinform

The referendum on the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement that is to take place in the Netherlands on April 6 was not initiated because of Ukraine, but to exert pressure on the relations between Holland and the European Union.

Head of the Dutch Burgercomite EU Arjan van Dixhoorn, one of the organizations that initiated the referendum, told in an interview with the Dutch newspaper NRC.

"In fact we don’t care about Ukraine, you have to understand this," he said.

He said the referendum was one of the options to put pressure on the relations between the Netherlands and the EU.

"Referendum on Nexit (analogous with Brexit- a campaign for Britain’s leaving the EU – ed.) was impossible until now. This is why we make use of all options to exert pressure on the relationship between the Netherlands and Ukraine," said van Dixhoorn.

Earlier, Ukrinform reported the consultative referendum on the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement takes place on April 6 in the Netherlands.

At the moment, the Association Agreement has been ratified by both houses of the Dutch parliament. However, according to the law that came into force in the country on July 1, almost any document passed by parliamentarians can be put to a referendum, if it collects 300,000 signatures. The initiator for signature collection was the satirical website blog GeenStijl and Burgercomite EU organization.