Today, December 16, the Dutch Government has approved a bill that is required for ratification by the country`s Parliament of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, Prime Minister Mark Rutte wrote on Facebook.
According to Mr Rutte, the bill is yet to be approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Netherlands.
The prime minister has noted that the agreement must be ratified at the background of Russia`s actions threatening EU stability and national security, while the deal`s failure would be ”the best gift” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It should be noted that the approval of the bill comes a day after the EU leaders agreed to the demands of the Netherlands on the Ukraine-EU deal. In particular, the Dutch government requires that Ukraine shall not automatically join the EU, there shall be no military cooperation, and the Ukrainians shall not be able to be employed en masse in the EU.
As UNIAN reported earlier, December 15, the European Council published the conclusions on the proposals of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, which are aimed at unblocking the ratification of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, earlier suspended because of the negative outcome of the Dutch referendum.
Dutch proposals are included in the annex to the Agreement.
”The European Council notes that the Decision set out in the Annex is legally binding on the 28 Member States of the European Union, and may be amended or repealed only by common accord of their Heads of State or Government. It will take effect once the Kingdom of the Netherlands has ratified the agreement and the Union has concluded it. Should this not be the case, the Decision will cease to exist,” according to the EU Council conclusions published Thursday.
