European Commission supports EU visa-free travel for Ukraine

The European Commission supports the soonest introduction of a visa-free regime with Ukraine, Frans Timmermans, the commission’s first vice president, said during an Oct. 18 meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in which they discussed key priorities in their relations and prospects for visa liberalization. Klimkin stressed that Ukraine has fulfilled all its obligations and called for sanctions against Russia to be maintained.

Zenon Zawada: Unfortunately for Ukraine, the European Parliament holds the key to the visa-free regime. But it became apparent on Oct. 11 that it would not consider the matter at its next session in Strasbourg on Oct. 24-27. A vote still possible for November, but we view it as less than 50% likely it will be approved by the parliament because of the current anti-migrant sentiment in Europe. There is great interest among certain EU parties to include Turkey in extending any visa-free regime, for the purpose of maintaining good relations with its government, whose president has been very vocal in demanding visa-free travel for his citizens. Yet we view this desire to include Turkey as a political mine field that a majority of European Parliament politicians won’t want to approach, considering its enormous population, its proximity to Syria and its migrants, and the large number of terrorist acts and uprisings on its territory in the last year.