Ukrainians want a Dutch Yes in EU referendum

Cynthia Kroet 

Almost three-quarters of Ukrainians want the Dutch to vote Yes in a referendum on an EU-Ukraine deal, according to a new poll.

The Netherlands votes on closer EU-Ukraine ties — known as an association agreement — on April 6, and an opinion poll by GFK Ukraine found there is 72 percent support for the deal.

The nationwide survey, published Tuesday, found that 13 percent want the Dutch to vote No in the referendum, and 15 percent are undecided.

A slight majority of those questioned (55 percent) think the agreement with the EU will help Ukraine get rid of corruption and build a stable democracy.

The survey was conducted on March 16-18 and 800 people were questioned.

The association agreement, which aims at improving trade between the EU and Ukraine, provisionally came into force on January 1, but needs to be ratified by all 28 EU members.

The Dutch referendum was triggered by a petition organized by the website GeenStijl that secured over 450,000 signatures. All Dutch petitions with over 300,000 signatures force the government to put an issue to a vote.

Recent opinion polls in the Netherlands suggest an even split between Yes and No voters, with around 25 percent in each camp. The threshold for the referendum result to be considered valid by the government is 30 percent.

Another survey published late February showed that almost half of Dutch voters are not aware of the referendum.

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