Dutch parliament begins EU-Ukraine Association Agreement debate

The lower house of the parliament in the Netherlands opened its debate on ratifying the Association Agreement with Ukraine ahead of a scheduled Feb. 23 vote, Ukrinform reports. The lower house is widely expected to support ratification. The upper house is slated to vote in March, after the lower house elections.

The Dutch government has stated that the measure has its full support, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reports. In a press release, the MFA announced that Dutch foreign minister Bert Kundersom gave the government’s assurances on Feb. 18 while meeting Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

James Hydzik: While the Association Agreement is widely expected to pass both houses, too many votes in western Europe have not gone as expected lately, and we do look forward to seeing it actually happen. As there has been no news of an organized campaign thus far against the vote, we agree that the lower house is likely to vote for the Association Agreement. As for the upper house, we are cautiously optimistic about a positive vote.