Netherlands, EU reach deal on Ukraine association agreement

The EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine is vital to Kyiv’s efforts to establish closer ties with the West. The Netherlands is the only country that has not ratified the deal, with Dutch voters rejecting it in an advisory referendum in April. The Dutch government has asked the EU for additional guarantees to ensure that ratification of the association agreement does not lead to EU membership for Ukraine. On December 15, EU leaders meeting in Brussels agreed to issue a special statement saying Ukraine’s association agreement "does not confer on Ukraine the status of a candidate country for accession to the Union, nor does it constitute a commitment to confer such status to Ukraine in the future." The statement also says the pact "does not contain an obligation for the union or its member states to provide collective security guarantees or other military aid or assistance to Ukraine." Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will now take the proposal to the Dutch parliament for a vote on whether to override the April referendum results. The agreement came as EU heads of state and government met for a one-day summit to discuss what a senior EU official called a "minefield" of issues faced by the bloc. EU leaders also agreed at their summit to extend economic sanctions against Russia by another six months, until July 31 2017, for its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.