The Dutch cabinet decided on Friday not to hold a referendum on the new reform treaty of the European Union (EU) reached in June.
"We have decided against organizing a new referendum. The revised EU treaty meets the concerns of the Dutch people, who voted against the first treaty in 2005. This revised treaty is a good one," Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.
A majority of government ministers backed the decision, which was in line with an advice from the Council of State. The Netherlands' highest and most important advisory body told the government in a formal opinion that the new reform treaty was so markedly different from the failed EU constitution treaty that it did not need another referendum.
"A referendum is unnecessary and undesirable," Balkenende said, "this is a normal change of treaty and only needs a normal procedure to approve it."
Dutch voters, following their French peers, rejected the EU constitution treaty in a referendum two years ago, fearing the country would lose too much power to the EU.
After the constitution treaty was destined to fail, the EU leaders agreed in their June summit to abandon the idea and replace it with a less ambitious reform treaty.
However, the Dutch cabinet's decision would not necessarily preclude the referendum as the lower house of parliament could take its own initiative to hold a new one.
Although two of the three parties in the Dutch governing coalition opposed a referendum on the EU reform treaty, a third, the Labor Party, was expected to adopt its own position on the matter next Tuesday, while several opposition parties, from the right and the left, demanded a referendum.
Source: Xinhua
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