Dutch no vote against EU-Ukraine pact no obstacle, says Poroshenko

KIEV // Ukrainian president Petro Porosheko said that a “No” vote in a Dutch referendum on a key EU pact with Kiev was no obstacle to the ex-Soviet country’s integration with the bloc.

Voters in the Netherlands on Wednesday rejected the cooperation deal in a people’s referendum seen as a barometer of anti-EU feeling, although it is non-binding.

“I would like to emphasise that this referendum has an exclusively consultative nature under the constitution and legislation of the Netherlands,” the Ukraine president said in a statement on Thursday.

“I am confident that this event is not a strategic obstacle for Ukraine on the path to Europe.”

Mr Poroshenko said Ukraine would keep working towards European integration as “a way to modernise Ukraine and reinforce its independence”.

“We will not turn off the road of European integration. Ukraine and freedom cannot be stopped,” he said.

The president said that in his opinion the Netherlands vote was largely directed against the European Union itself.

“This is an attack on the unity of Europe, an attack on the spread of European values.”

Dutch voters were asked if they supported the European Union’s association agreement with Ukraine, which has been at the heart of the conflict with former master Russia since 2014.

A decision by Mr Poroshenko’s pro-Kremlin predecessor Viktor Yanukovich to suddenly cancel the signing of the EU deal triggered a popular uprising in Kiev followed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and a pro-Moscow uprising in eastern Ukraine.

The agreement signed by Poroshenko in 2014 includes a free trade accord known as the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA).

“I would like to emphasise that Ukraine will keep on implementing the Association Agreement and ensure the establishment of DCFTA with the European Union,” Mr Poroshenko said Thursday.

The West and Kiev accuse the insurgents of downing a Malaysia Airlines plane over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all on board, the majority of them Dutch.

* Agence France-Press