In order for the referendum on the ratification of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU took place, activists in the Netherlands has collected more than 400 thousand signatures. But as it turned out, their authenticity has not been tested. As reported by the New York Times, became known thanks to the request of the Dutch TV station RTL to the Ministry of internal Affairs of the country.
In the Electoral Committee of the Netherlands confirmed that the names in the list of those who allegedly supported the referendum, only tested for the presence among registered voters in the country. But the authenticity of their signatures has not been tested.
“The Dutch law on referendums does not require verification of signatures”, – said the representative of the electoral Commission Helen Herrmann.
“When we evaluated the law, we expressed concern about the process. But it is impossible to check the signatures because they were never made in the electoral system,” she explained.
The electoral Commission advised the government to use a national electronic identification system called DigiD to verify the request on holding a referendum. But, according to Herrmann, the Council has ignored.
Recall that the Dutch referendum has blocked final ratification of the Ukrainian-European Association agreement and the FTA. The process moved only after the EU has attached to the document additional statement that the agreement does not mean the first step of Ukraine towards membership in the European Union and not oblige the European countries to help Kyiv in the security sphere.
It was recently reported that the Senate of the Netherlands will consider the Association agreement after March 15. Meanwhile, Prime Minister of the Netherlands is confident of ratification of the Association Agreement EU-Ukraine. The Cabinet Rutte has already prepared a law draft, which should lead to ratification of the Agreement, despite the results of the Advisory referendum in April 2016.
