Ukraine moves a step closer to EU visa-free travel

Forty five million Ukrainian nationals could, if things go well, be able to enter most EU states without a visa by the end of the year.

The prospect comes after European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker i said in Brussels on Thursday (17 March) that the latest reforms in Ukraine “allow the commission to make proposals for visa liberalisation in April”.

“We have shared interests in making it easier for our citizens to travel to each other’s countries,” he said.

The commission had linked the step to new anti-corruption measures in Kiev.

Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko i, speaking alongside Juncker, said the visa-free news was an “important event” for his country.

He said Ukraine had just passed a law forcing officials to declare their financial interests on the internet, and had also appointed members of a new anti-corruption agency.

EU nationals can already travel to Ukraine without a visa after it unilaterally lifted requirements in 2010.

The commission recommendation in April must be approved by EU states via a qualified majority vote in the Council. It must also win the backing of the European Parliament.

The EU would then sign a bilateral treaty with Ukraine, which would also oblige Ukraine to take back people who enter the EU from its territory through irregular means.

The first visa-free trips could start the day after they sign.

Turkey

The visa-free perks would extend to most EU countries, but not Ireland or the UK, which are not members of the EU’s Schengen travel area.

Ukraine would also have to negotiate separate arrangements with non-EU Schengen states Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

EU sources declined to say how long the whole process might take.

When the commission on 9 March proposed to lift visa requirements for Georgia it said it hoped the measure would enter into force during the summer.

The EU is also preparing to fast-track Turkey’s visa-free application as part of a deal on stopping irregular migrants.

But Turkish officials fear that France could create obstacles in order to appease anti-immigration feeling at home. Cyprus, for its part, insists that Turkey, which doesn't recognise it, has to first accept readmissions of migrants from Cypriot terrritory.

Some countries, such as Hungary and Lithuania, have also said that Ukraine should get a visa-free regime before Turkey.

"Ukraine has become the 73th benchmark" of Turkey visa talks, a top EU official said on Thursday, referring to the 72 criteria that Turkey has to meet for the EU to drop visa restrictions.

Crimea anniversary

Poroshenko said he gave Juncker and EU Council chief Donald Tusk i a list of Russian officials who should be denied EU entry.

The list of some 30 names covers people deemed guilty of abducting and jailing Ukrainian fighter pilot Nadiya Savchenko.

Tusk, who shared the podium with Poroshenko and Juncker, reiterated previous EU calls on Russia to free her. But neither he nor Juncker mentioned the list.

The EU has a separate blacklist of 146 Russians and Ukrainians deemed guilty of violating Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” and has also imposed economic sanctions on Russia.

Tusk said these would stay in force until Russia implemented the so-called Minsk ceasefire pact in Ukraine. “Unfortunately we don’t see anything like that from the Russian side,” he said.

He noted that Friday would mark the two-year anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, adding that the EU's policy of not recognising the annexation would remain in place.

Russia, prior to the Ukraine conflict, was also in talks with the EU over visa-free travel, but the talks were suspended after the conflict broke out.