Dutch voters reject European Union pact with Ukraine

Dutch broadcasters NOS and RTL reported that turnout for the referendum among the Netherlands' 13 million voters was 32.2 percent -- above the 30 percent minimum level that makes the vote valid -- with all of the votes having been counted and reported by municipalities to the national news agency ANP's election service. Official results will not be known until April 12. The preliminary results show that among those who voted, 61.1 percent rejected the pact with Ukraine and 38.1 percent supported it, according to the ANP count. European Council President Donald Tusk said he was waiting for the Dutch government's conclusions on the referendum. "I will continue to be in contact with Prime Minister [Mark] Rutte on this, as I need to hear what conclusions he and his government will draw from the referendum and what his intentions will be," Tusk said in a statement on April 7. "The EU-Ukraine agreement continues to be applied. The EU-Ukraine agreement has already been ratified by the other 27 member states." Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said the result of the referendum was "an important political fact." "It means that the ratification [of the agreement] cannot proceed as was expected before," he said late on April 6. "So we have to take a step-by-step approach. Now we have to talk within the [Dutch] cabinet, with the parliament, with our European partners, also with the Ukraine, to see what the consequences of this decision might be."