Dutch referendum

Commenting on the outcome of the Dutch referendum on the EU-Ukraine agreement, Greens/EFA co-president Rebecca Harms said:

"Ukrainian citizens and civil society have bravely pushed to reform their country, to achieve stable democracy and the rule of law for their country. The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement has given concrete form to the EU's support of this and contributes a lot to the necessary reform process in the country and helps to lead it to greater stability. A peaceful and democratic European neighbourhood is in the interest of all EU citizens. A stable and democratic Ukraine will increase security for all Europeans and, consequently, the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement is also in our own European interest and the process can't be interrupted without severe damage for EU and Ukraine."

Dutch Green MEP Bas Eickhout added:

"Anti-European sentiment among a proportion of the Dutch electorate should not be used as an excuse to deny Ukrainian citizens the possibility to develop their country to a democratic state with rights, laws and freedom. But it is clear that Ukraine must urgently tackle its problems with corruption that were so frequently cited as a reason to vote no. The revelations in the Panama Papers regarding Ukrainian president Poroshenko and the Ukrainian oligarchs have again underlined this urgent need for action, and the Association Agreement could actually be a useful tool in this regard. We await proposals from the Dutch EU presidency on how we can maintain the agreement, whilst respecting the outcome of this vote."