The Hague: Dutch MPs have backed a hard-won compromise deal ratifying an amended EU-Ukraine pact which was rejected in a controversial referendum last year.
In a majority vote of 89 for and 55 against, the lower house of Dutch parliament yesterday approved the compromise hammered out in EU talks in December.
The MPs were holding their last session before going into recess ahead of a key election on March 15. The draft law still has to go before the Senate for final approval however, which is unlikely to happen before the poll, Dutch media said.
The Netherlands is the only member of EU yet to ratify the association accord with Kiev which aims to boost trade and political dialogue, in a bid to nudge the country away from its former Soviet master, Russia.
Eurosceptic groups, seizing on a new law, forced a referendum on the pact. Some 60 percent of those who voted rejected the treaty, even though turnout barely scraped above the 30 percent needed for the results to be valid.
It a blow to Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his coalition government at a time when The Netherlands was at the helm of the EU’s rotating presidency.
Rutte, who had promised to take into account the results, was forced to seek a compromise with his EU partners.
After tough talks, the treaty’s wording was amended to limit the EU’s defence commitments to Ukraine and state that the pact does not provide any guarantees to Kiev of full EU membership in the future.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko welcomed yesterday's vote.
