On 6 April in the Netherlands, just over 30% of potential voters took part in a referendum on the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement. This was one of numerous Free Trade Area Agreements established between the EU and countries all around the world, from Mexico to Mozambique. Less than two years ago, president Petro Poroshenko signed this agreement, and since that time has been partially implemented. It was ratified by all the EU-member states and, for the most part, garnered no political response from the public, with the exception of the Netherlands. Here, a liberal-right political initiative, GeenPeil, launched a collection of signatures calling for a referendum on ratification of the Agreement.
The following question, which brought thousands of Ukrainians out into the streets in late 2013-2014 and started the EuroMaidan protests against the previous Ukrainian government, which was not ready to turn from Russia towards the European Union, was posed to the Dutch public: “Are you in favour or against the Approval Act of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine?” The outcome of the referendum was stressful for supporters of Ukraine’s “Eurodream” on both sides of the Schengen border: almost 62% of voters were against the Agreement.
Why “Yes”?
The first contradiction of “Europeanness” revealed by the debates around the referendum is that of the centre-periphery. It could be read between the lines of the YES arguments from both the Dutch and Ukrainian sides. The motivation of those Dutch voters who decided to vote in favor of the agreement, while framed in similar language, radically differs from that of the Ukrainians who supported it in the EuroMaidan protests.
