Eurosceptic parties hailed Thursday "a vote of no-confidence" in Brussels after Dutch voters rejected an EU pact with Ukraine in a fresh blow to European unity only weeks before Britain's in-out referendum. Despite the low turnout in Wednesday's referendum, European leaders were left nursing a new headache after preliminary results showed 61 percent of those who voted opposed the Brussels-Kiev deal.
"The 'No' camp clearly won," admitted Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, acknowledging an embarrassing slap in the face at a time when his country holds the rotating EU presidency. Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders said the results of the referendum, triggered by grassroots eurosceptics, were "a vote of no confidence by the people against the elite from Brussels and The Hague". But it remained uncertain how much of a boost it would give to campaigners pushing for a "Brexit" in Britain's June 23 referendum on whether to leave the European Union.
Nor was it clear how much it would affect the EU's association agreement with Kiev which has already been ratified by the 27 other EU members and been partially implemented. Ukraine itself vowed the results would not be an obstacle to its push for closer ties with the 28-member EU away from the orbit of former Soviet master Russia. But European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker, who spoke at length late Wednesday with Rutte about the results, was said to be saddened by the outcome.
The bloc is already battling deep divisions over its handling of the continent's biggest migration crisis since World War II and financial woes in several member countries including Greece. British Prime Minister David Cameron nevertheless voiced hope the vote would not boost the campaign for a Brexit. "It is important that the European institutions and the Dutch government listen carefully to what people are saying, to try and understand that and to try and work with that," Cameron said. "I don't think it has any effect on us because we have a bigger question."
Analyst Rens Vliegenthart, communications professor at the University of Amsterdam, agreed. "Eurosceptics will see this as a boost, but I can hardly see British voters in a Brexit campaign being influenced by this vote," he told AFP. However, Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP), hailed it as a "tremendous victory for democracy". "Time and again, voters are choosing to reject Brussels whenever they are consulted about the EU," added Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, another pro-Brexit group.
And Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Front, welcomed in a Tweet "yesterday's triumph by patriotic forces". Rutte, whose government has to consider the results after turnout just sneaked past the 30 percent needed to make the vote valid, said he would now consult with his cabinet and Brussels.
Comments
Comments are closed.