See my earlier piece from this morning with the Financial Times now adopting a similar line.
It has really significant implications.
I cannot quite understand why the Dutch government and the European Commission, et al., did not take it more seriously, but adopted a policy of hoping it would go away, and keeping a low profile to ensure the vote was not a quorum.
In the end, that strategy spectacularly failed. I guess again it is a sad indictment of our establishment politicians and the European Commission, which actually the Dutch eurosceptics railed against in this vote – not leaving much hope over Brexit.
Subsequently, the European Commission has not had a position on what to do next – again remarkable given there was always a risk that the Dutch would vote no.
The EC/EU now look like rabbits in the headlights – no strategy, no policy, no leadership.
In the end this is sad day for Ukraine, the EU and a huge embarrassment to the Dutch. Let’s be clear the Association Agreement/Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement is not a gateway to EU membership for Ukraine – it has never been sold as that.
This is simply an anchor for Ukraine on its efforts to reform towards “European values” and that might be in or out of the EU 20 years down the line.
By this vote those Dutch who bothered to get out and vote basically sent a message that they don’t want to support Ukraine’s reform towards European values, but in effect prefer to turn a blind eye and leave Ukraine to the mercy of the same people who likely downed the Malaysian Airways airliner over Ukraine (on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people aboard).
So much for European values – more like “I’m alright jack.”
That’s the same European values which looked the other way when the Balkans were heading into conflict and strife following the collapse of former Yugoslavia – and the Dutch should have Srebrenica etched forever in their brains and especially following the recent indictment of Radovan Karadic in the Hague International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia tribunal.
