FT: Dutch threaten to sink EU-Ukraine trade and security deal

The Prime Minister outlined his demands for a decision signed by EU heads of government, making clear that the "association agreement" will not create a defence guarantee for Ukraine or be a step towards its eventual membership of the bloc. "If we do not get this we will put a law to parliament the next day, which will state that we will not ratify the association agreement," Rutte said. The deal between Ukraine and the EU was supposed to deepen political, economic and trade links. But the Dutch voted against the deal by a margin of nearly two-to-one in a referendum in April. Leaders from the EU's 28 member states meet in Brussels on Thursday to try to save the deal, which has been ratified by all EU member states except the Netherlands, the Financial Times reports. Supporters of the association agreement see it as a bulwark against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. As reported, the authorities of Ukraine and the Netherlands are developing a compromise document (an addendum to the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement), which will allow to complete the process of the deal's ratification.