Last week several of the people behind the Dutch Ukraine referendum were interviewed by NRC Handelsblad, a Dutch daily. In the interview they stated that they “could not care less about Ukraine”. The real motivation for the referendum is to create momentum for the Netherlands to one day leave the EU altogether. Of course this did not came as a shock.
But still, from an organisation that has ‘saved democracy!’ as its motto it is appalling how they not only lied to the whole nation, but are willing to thwart the future of 45 million Ukrainians in the process. Knowing that the organisers of the referendum thus willingly lied about their intentions and are not the least bit interested in Ukraine, the referendum as such is not about Ukraine at all. That also means that the organisers should have no interest whatsoever in whether the agreement with Ukraine is ratified – after all, they said so themselves that they do not care. If I were the Dutch government, I would therefore give them exactly what they ask for and ignore the results of the referendum altogether, writes Sijbren de Jong in his column for EUobserver.
The full article can be read here.
The article also appeared in the Morning Vertical daily Russia briefing by Radio Free Europe.
Photo credit: Metropolico.org via Foter.com / CC BY-SA
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