- Title: NETHERLANDS: VOTE COUNTING AND FIRST REACTIONS TO THE REFERENDUM RESULTS
- Date: 3rd June 2005
- Summary: (BN15) AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (JUNE 1, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV STREET OF AMSTERDAM WITH PEOPLE WALKING 0.05 2. WIDE OF CANAL WITH BOAT 0.11 3. LAS CHURCH OF PRINSENGRACHT, USED AS A VOTING BUREAU 0.15 4. MV ONE OF THE LAST VOTERS GETTING HIS BALLOT 0.21 5. SLV MAN CASTING HIS BALLOT 0.28 6. MV YOUNG WOMAN VOTING; WOMAN WITH DOGS ON LEADS VOTING 0.47 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN SAYING: "I have voted in favour. It has also something to do with my job, and I am in favour because I want good international co-operation in law." 0.59 8. CLOSE UP OF VOTING 1.02 9. MV VOTING BOXES BEING OPENED AND BALLOTS THROWN ON GROUND 1.22 10. MAN COUNTING BALLOTS SITTING ON GROUND 11. CLOSE UP OF BALLOTS SAYING 'NO' 12. CLOSE UP ON WOMAN COUNTING ON THE FLOOR 13. WIDE OF FOUR WOMEN COUNTING IN THE CHURCH 2.03 14. TEENAGERS PLAYING SOCCER IN THE STREET 2.08 15. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) UNIDENTIFIED MALE TEENAGER SAYING: "I have voted in favour. I also considered voting no, but at the end I preferred yes." 2.21 16. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) UNIDENTIFIED MALE TEENAGER SAYING: "I didn't know (the outcome of referendum), but it is good because I voted 'No' as well. Why, because I heard they want to use the money for a big European army and I am already against the Dutch army and it is going to cost too much money." 2.42 17. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) ANOTHER YOUNG MAN SAYING: "I have voted yes. I think it is a pity. I think a lot of people didn't know what to vote, so that's why they said no. I think it is a sheep attitude because they were thinking everybody will vote No, so that's why they said 'Let's vote No.'" 2.58 18. YOUNG MEN PLAYING FOOTBALL IN STREET 3.04 19. MV MAN DRINKING IN A PUB 3.08 20. (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING: "This is the proof that the Dutch people have never been interested in politics, never for fifty years and suddenly they have this and that to say about it. I think it is terrible." 3.23 21. OTHER WIDE OF BOYS PLAYING SOCCER. 3.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 18th June 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
- Country: Netherlands
- Reuters ID: LVA2O60CGPGZ3CE1RPEU05BTFBNM
- Story Text: Dutch vote counting and first reactions to the
referendum results in Amsterdam.
The Netherlands emphatically rejected the European
Union (EU) constitution in a referendum on Wednesday (June
1, 2005), potentially killing off a treaty already spurned by
France and plunging the bloc deeper into crisis.
With 66.8 percent of votes counted, Dutch news agency
ANP said 62.2 percent had voted "No" to 37.8 percent in
favour, with turnout at 63.9 percent, well above the 39
percent that voted in last year's European Parliament
election.
"No" campaigners from the Socialist Party at a
celebration in Amsterdam greeted the outcome with wild
cheers, punching the air in jubilation after a campaign
which united disparate fringe parties from left and right
in hostility to the charter.
The resounding "No", even stronger than nearly 55
percent against the treaty in France on Sunday, is the
latest sign of Dutch anger with the political elite since
the 2002 murder of anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn.
Unease was further stoked by the killing last year of a
film-maker critical of Islam.
Hostility to the euro, fears of a European superstate,
concerns about immigration, security and a loss of Dutch
influence in Brussels as well as disenchantment with the
government and the sluggish economy fuelled the "No" vote.
The rejection of the charter by the Netherlands, like
France one of the six countries that founded the bloc in
the 1950s, could deliver a fatal blow to the treaty
designed to make the EU run better following its
enlargement from 15 to 25 states.
Latvia's parliament is expected to approve the treaty
with a big majority on Thursday, meaning 10 members
representing almost half the EU's 454 million citizens will
have approved it.
The result also casts doubt on the EU's hopes for a
stronger foreign policy and its plans to expand further to
the western Balkans, Turkey and Ukraine, and raises
questions about its appetite for economic reform amid
mounting global competition.
Reaction among voters in the city of Amsterdam was
mixed. One woman voter, one of the last people to vote,
told Reuters: "I have voted in favour. It has also
something to do with my job, and I am in favour because I
want good international co-operation in law."
A group of teenagers playing football in the streets
had varying opinions on the referendum result. One young
man said: "I have voted in favour. I also considered voting
no, but at the end I preferred yes." One of his friends had
voted 'No' and explained his decision. "I didn't know (the
outcome of referendum), but it is good because I voted 'No'
as well. Why, because I heard they want to use the money
for a big European army and I am already against the Dutch
army and it is going to cost too much money."
In a nearby pub one middle aged Dutchman said he felt
upset by the vote, adding witheringly: "This is the proof
that the Dutch people have never been interested in
politics, never for 50 years and suddenly they have this
and that to say about it. I think it is terrible."
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