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2nd LD Writethru: Tusk says EU, Ukraine want to see early free travel

Xinhua, August 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

European Council President Donald Tusk here on Thursday said that the European Union (EU) and Ukraine wanted to see free travel between Ukraine and Europe sooner rather than later.

Tusk made the remarks at a press briefing with visiting Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko following their meeting.

"We discussed how Ukraine is implementing the association agreement, in particular those parts on visa liberalization," said Tusk, adding that he encouraged Poroshenko to move quickly on this issue.

"For the visa-free, we have solved all the political questions, and Ukraine is not creating any problem (of migration) for any nation," said Poreoshenko at a separate press briefing with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

"Just for your information, we have small border traffic which is already free for the Ukranians to travel on the EU and Schengen zone," he said.

"There is no relation between the visa question, as far as Ukraine is concerned, and the on-going debate of the migration issue," said Juncker at the press briefing.

According to the website of the Mission of Ukraine to the EU, Ukraine and the EU signed an agreement on facilitation of the issuance of visas in 2007 and the agreement entered into force in 2008.

In 2012, an enhanced agreement amending the visa facilitation agreement was signed. It envisaged broadening the categories of Ukrainian people who are entitled to receive multiple and free-of-charge Schengen visas until the moment when the short-term visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens to enter the EU are abolished. This enhanced agreement entered into force in 2013.

During the meeting with Tusk, Poroshenko also briefed Tusk on the recent increases in violations of the Minsk ceasefire.

"I am especially worried about the targeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission and call on all parties to make sure this does not happen again," said Tusk in a press statement after the meeting.

Tusk noted that the two sides also talked about the domestic situation in Ukraine, saying he welcomed progress on amending the constitution to allow for greater decentralization and encouraged Ukraine to move more quickly on judicial reform. Endit