BETRAYED: EU sticks two fingers up at Dutch voters and opens door to 45 MILLION Ukrainians

EUROPE'S elite tonight dropped all pretence of respecting democracy by plotting to grant visa-free travel to 45 million Ukrainians in direct defiance of the Dutch referendum result.

Brussels bureaucrats have strongly indicated they will simply ride roughshod over the voice of an entire nation in their grasping bid to secure further power in Eastern Europe.  

Two-thirds of the Dutch people rejected a controversial EU land grab plot in a landmark referendum last week, which only took place because of a people's revolt against the European elite.

But tonight it emerged that they have been betrayed by both their own Government and mandarins in Brussels, who are ploughing on with the Ukraine deal regardless.

The despotic move will further fuel claims that the EU has no respect for democracy, and comes just weeks before Britons decide on whether or not to quit the 28-nation bloc.

Dutch campaigners had previously warned that the British people should opt for a Brexit if their democratic wishes were ignored, saying it would show the Brussels regime has become so corrupt all hopes of reform are lost.

On an historic night last Thursday an overwhelming 61.1% of Dutch voters rejected the Ukraine land grab plot, which aims to bring Kiev into the EU's sphere of influence.

The prospect of 45 million Ukrainians being granted visa-free access to the Schengen free movement zone — of which the Netherlands is a part — was one of the key reasons voters blocked the deal.

But just days later the dictatorial EU Commission has indicated it will stick two fingers up to the country's 17 million people and implement the travel arrangements regardless.

A senior EU source said: "It may look as if we're ignoring the Dutch voters, but we have to keep our word to Ukraine, which has met the conditions."

The confirmation comes after European leaders including Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande indicated within hours of the Dutch result being announced that Brussels was likely to simply ignore it.

Astonishingly, even the Dutch Government has betrayed its own people to kow-tow to the EU regime.

Yesterday Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko that he will champion the "granting of a visa free travel regime" against the overwhelming wishes of his people.

The conversation, reported by the Interfax news agency, is an astonishing volte face from a politician who just four days ago said crushing defeat in the referendum meant the EU treaty now "cannot go ahead".

And even if the Dutch Government does choose to represent its people when the proposal is put forward it will be unable to block it, as it only needs to be passed by a qualified majority of EU member states and by MEPs in the European Parliament to take effect.

As a result, the entire population of war-torn Ukraine is set to gain the right to travel throughout mainland Europe by as early as next month.

Thierry Baudet, one of the activists who collected 400,000 signatures to secure last week's referendum, reacted to the revelations on Twitter by simply asking: "What the f***?"

He later added: "Mark, no is no. The treaty must be shelved."

Before the referendum result Mr Baudet, who is the founding director of the Forum for Democracy, said British voters would be watching to see if the EU decided to honour the result.

He said: "If politicians ignore the Dutch 'no' then it will be an even stronger signal than what the British have already received — that there is no way to correct the European political class and that they should vote to leave."

Ukraine is not the only country impatiently awaiting visa-free travel to be granted by ever-expansionist Brussels.

EU leaders have promised to speed up visa liberalisation for Turkey, aiming for agreement by late June if Ankara meets the many conditions. If that goes ahead, 80 million Turks will have access to the whole of the Schengen zone.

The Commission is also working on a politically sensitive proposal to extend the scheme to Kosovo, which has a population of around two million.