The ratification saga of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement : some lessons for the practice of mixed agreements

On 6 April 2016, a referendum on the approval of the Association Agreement between the European Union (EU), its Member States and Ukraine was organised in the Netherlands. Despite its non-binding nature, the outcome of the referendum created significant political and legal problems. Politically speaking, Dutch governmental and parliamentary representatives had committed themselves to take the result of the referendum seriously, implying that the mere continuation of the internal ratification process was not an option. Consequently, several legal problems emerged since the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement could only enter into force upon the approval of all parties. Although it already happened in the past that a third country failed to ratify a mixed agreement with the EU, leading to the addition of an adjustment protocol clarifying that this country would not become a party to the agreement, the situation after the Dutch referendum was significantly more complicated. For the first time, an EU Member State was on the verge of not ratifying a mixed agreement. Without a solution for the Dutch situation, the Council could not adopt the final Decision regarding the conclusion of the agreement. At the same time, however, a significant part of the agreement had already provisionally entered into force raising questions about the limits of this practice