News / EU

Dutch campaigners gather over 56,000 signatures for Nexit vote

Wednesday, 29 June 2016 6:10 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 29 June 2016 6:14 PM ]

A worker on a lift adjusts the EU flags in front of the bloc’s headquarters in Brussels on June 22, 2016. ©AP

More than 56,000 Dutch people have signed a petition calling for a referendum on the Netherlands’ divorce from the European Union.

Following a June 23 vote in Britain to leave the EU, Dutch campaigners also drew up a petition demanding a referendum in the Netherlands on whether to leave the EU.

"Everything has just got worse, since the arrival of the euro and the European Union which has seen our national sovereignty abandoned and our borders disappear," says the petition.

"We are no longer building anything, but demolishing and dividing. That's why we want a referendum to quit the EU."

The petition has little to no chance of success, but its organizers, Patrick Crijns and Peter van Wijmeren, told the Dutch daily NRC that they wanted to "show that there is an interest in a Nexit."

Earlier this week, far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders called for his country to follow Britain’s suit and hold a referendum on EU membership.

However, the motion put forward by Wilders to the Dutch parliament on Monday was rejected.

A poll published on June 26 by the Dutch peil.nl polling company found that while 50 percent of Dutch voters currently favor a referendum, compared to 47 percent who do not, a narrow majority of people would vote to stay in the EU if a vote was ever held.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk