Rutte says Ukraine referendum result was ‘disastrous’
Prime minister Mark Rutte has described the results of the recent Dutch referendum on the EU’s treaty with Ukraine as ‘disastrous‘.
Speaking to members of the European parliament on Monday, Rutte said he is totally against referendums and ‘totally, totally, totally against referendums on multilateral agreements’.
‘It makes no sense, as we have seen in the Netherlands,’ Rutte said. ‘You can’t as one country decide on something for the whole of Europe.’
The Netherlands has advisory referendums thanks to the coalition Labour party (PvdA), Rutte said. ‘And the referendum led to this disastrous result.’
The turnout in the April referendum was just 32%, but this was enough for the result to have legal weight. Some 62% of those who voted said no to the treaty.
The cabinet has not yet given an official response to the vote.
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