Unsuccessful referendum

Among the main topics of the last time, it remained underestimated, in my opinion, the one that about the Dutch referendum on the Association of Ukraine and the EU. In the sense that in Russia its results (60% of the third that came to vote were against) many perceived as another victory of Putinism and the defeat of Ukraine. One Russian newspaper even reported to the words: “Having suffered a fiasco with a Dutch referendum, the authorities of Ukraine ...”. That is, this referendum to the problems of the “Russian world” was very definitely. And as far as I understood in many other forums, the patriotic Russian wives of Dutch Europeans also virtually shook hands and recorded the results of voting as their victory over European husbands-renewals. Type "we tried." And if so, then we can safely consider what is happening not as the domestic political affair of one individual Holland, but as a successful or unsuccessful example of the EU policy in relation to the Russian presentation of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis in Europe.

Immediately make a reservation, in my opinion, a completely unsuccessful policy, which also has historical precedents for such failures.

The brightest is, of course, the Munich agreement, which is sometimes called "conspiracy". Although this agreement was not so much a conspiracy as a conscious and, at first glance, quite justified at that time an attempt to appease the regime that begins to disperse. We still love to compare the Munich agreement with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which is not entirely correct. After all, if the latter was about the division of European countries between the finally issued aggressors, then the participants of the first agreement nevertheless “excuse” to some extent, which, then, in 1938, they had no idea what such a policy of pacification would lead to. Since the main horrors of World War II had to happen.

In Munich, European leaders hoped that the judo would end. That Hitler will eat part of the Czechoslovakia, to which he had a dubious right, will calm down on that. It turned out that it would not end. And it was a cruel lesson in history related to the experience of interacting with totalitarian regimes. But our lovely Dutch, if they remembered this lesson, on the contrary, could be absolutely confident in the future of Ukraine, it was exclusively in the sphere of influence of the reviving Russian Empire, which from time to time with the lips of idiots-experts and cynics-propagandists threatens the “apostates” with a massive nuclear blow.

They, as the participants of the peculiar Munich-2, will then only have to pray that this border, which is mentally drawn in Moscow in a constant chatter of limitroph, multipolar world and historically established zones of national interests, remained there. And then did not move even further-through the Baltic states to the northwestern European countries. The very fact that the Dutch right movement GEEN PEIL (“without a framework”) - which either received financing from Moscow for organizing this referendum (in any case, they accused them), or did not receive it - it doesn’t matter in the center of Europe at home, indicates a certain vulnerability of the European integration project. Right nationalist movements and frank “friends of Moscow” deftly use gaps that are breaking through new European egoism. But at the same time, this indicates the failure of the campaign of the report to the European population of the meaning of European integration, what is actually at stake, if you abandon joint resistance to authoritarian trends in Europe.

I discovered the second amazing example of European egoism, studying the history of the defeat of the political opposition in the USSR. The Stalinist USSR, by the way,, oddly enough, in the thirties, did not shy at all at all contacts with the West. And it was not as isolationist as it seems to us today. On the contrary, the areopagus of the leaders was very immersed in the European context through the Comintern, communist and labor movements and “progressive left -wing”, by virtue of which he did not hesitate to act as a shot of struggle against international terrorism. Writing, however, to terrorists primarily their own objectionable ones.

The example dates back to the time of Lev Trotsky’s stay in Norway, where he in the newspaper of the ruling working party “Arbiderblaten” made the exposure of Moscow political trials. He performed to perform, but very soon, as Trotskyist historian Vadim Rogovin notes, the campaign unfolded by the Trotsky turned out to be blocked by the Norwegian authorities. Because the incoming official note of the Soviet government immediately indicated that the friendly relations between the USSR and Norway will be undermined and the USSR will suspend the import of the Norwegian herring. And the fishing and shipping companies immediately began to demand from the government to “resolve the issue with Trotsky” in order to prevent the growth of unemployment in the country. Doesn't it remind you?

However, today it is not yesterday, and a certain optimism causes that the European elites of the central countries of the European Union adequately assess Russia as an alternative center of force on the continent. But “Friends of Moscow” still do not have a critical weight in representative authorities. The Dutch referendum was reliably decided to consider what he, in fact, was originally constituted - with an advisory vote. To the opinion of one sixth Dutch voters (60% of the third of those who came) listened, but nothing more. Yes, and to tell the truth, the association with Europe is not membership in Europe. The obligations of the parties here are not so strict. In fact, Ukraine so far itself has neither technical nor institutional opportunities to become a full -fledged member of the European Union, which is also recognized in Ukraine. However, it is important to maintain a roadmap for her and leave the lighthouses on to move to full integration on. Repulsion, and in fact the betrayal of the second largest in Europe for the sake of not understanding all the acuteness of the problem, the European layman, fearing for his comfort (as the right nationalist forces would like), will again determine it in the zone of influence of Putin's authoritarianism. And this is a tragedy, the true meaning of which is difficult to imagine. And as a result, he will bring joy to anyone. Neither Europe, nor Ukraine, nor Russia, still counting on the resumption of the democratic process. And he has any chances only with Europe.

Photo: 1. 04/06/2016. Netherlands EU Ukraine Referendum. Peter Dejong/AP/TASS

2. Promotions in support and against signing an association agreement between Ukraine and the EU in Amsterdam. Peter Dejong/AP/TASS