EU leaders have attempted to rescue a landmark treaty with Ukraine, which was rejected by Dutch voters, plunging ties with Europe’s eastern neighbour into uncertainty.

In a bid to assuage Dutch concerns, European leaders have spelled out that Ukraine has not been promised EU membership, nor any help from European armies in the event of invasion, as a result of signing an association agreement.



The treaty has already been signed by the 27 other EU member states, approved by the Dutch government and has partly come into force. But Dutch voters rejected the full version of the treaty in April, following a campaign that led many to believe Ukraine was on a fast-track to EU membership.



After six months of uncertainty, EU leaders on Thursday agreed written guarantees to the Dutch that EU membership was not on the cards for Ukraine, nor would its citizens be gaining rights to live and work in Europe.



The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, who is trailing the far right in polls ahead of March elections, hailed the outcome. But he stressed he could offer no guarantees that the agreement would be ratified by the Dutch parliament.



“I can’t give my colleagues a guarantee that with this binding decision the EU-Ukraine agreement will be signed by the Netherlands. But I give myself a good fighting chance. I will fight for it.

“I realise I asked a lot of my colleagues, I’m grateful for their understanding, also from [Ukrainian] President Poroshenko with whom I was in close contact the last weeks.”

Earlier in the day, Rutte said “taking the agreement off the table would be the biggest present ever we could give to Vladimir Putin”.

The EU-Ukraine association agreement, signed in March 2014, creates a free-trade area and expands cooperation on foreign policy and crime-fighting, from Ireland to the borders of Russia. The deal was seen as a victory for pro-western Ukrainians, who forced Viktor Yanukovych from power in 2014, after he abandoned the EU pact under Russian pressure. Although it never contained explicit promises of EU membership, many Dutch voters felt Ukraine was on an unstoppable journey to joining the bloc.

Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuania’s blunt-speaking president, described the process undertaken by the EU as “a creative exercise to explain what is not in the treaty and this will hopefully be satisfactory”.

The text that will be put to the Dutch parliament spells out Ukraine will not be offered “security guarantees or other military assistance”, while Ukrainians will not have rights to live and work in the EU. In another nod to Dutch critics, it stresses the importance of fighting corruption and strengthening the rule of law, features of the original agreement.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said the EU was counting on the Dutch. “The ratification is important not only for Ukraine, but also for Europe’s geopolitical standing and credibility.”

At the late-running EU summit in Brussels, leaders also agreed to roll over sanctions against Russia into mid-2017 to keep the pressure on Moscow for destabilising eastern Ukraine and invading Crimea.



Angela Merkel and François Hollande pressed to keep punitive measures in place, after the failure to uphold a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. The German and French leaders have called for more progress to implement the Minsk peace agreement, an attempt to settle the conflict that has killed nearly 10,000 people since 2014.

The decision to extend sanctions, which target Russian banks, energy companies and arms makers, was a foregone conclusion, against a backdrop of rising tensions between Russia and the west over Syria. But EU countries remain split over how to deal with their eastern neighbour, with Italy pressing the case to begin unwinding sanctions and improve business links.



Tusk said some countries had called for sanctions to be extended for one year, but it had been clear there was no majority to do so.

Pressure for a softer approach to Russia could build if François Fillon is elected to the Élysée Palace in 2017. The French conservative, the frontrunner to become president in May, has stressed he wants to mend fences with Russia.

“I’ve always said whether Russia’s leader is called Vladimir, Boris or Igor, he is the leader of the biggest country in the world,” he told journalists at a conference of centre-right leaders in Brussels on Thursday. “Europe must have a long-term strategy with Russia and not just act emotionally.”



In contrast, Hollande has blamed Russia, chief backer of Bashar al-Assad, for escalating the conflict in Syria.



The decision to roll over sanctions was taken over a long lunch, where leaders also debated how to handle record numbers of refugees and migrants arriving in Europe, as well as plans to beef up Europe’s common defence policy.



Theresa May took part in the full day of meetings, but had not been invited to the final part of the evening, where EU leaders discussed Brexit without her. When it became clear the summit was running late, with a planned Brexit dinner among the EU27 cancelled, May excused herself telling fellow leaders she had better go.