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2nd LD: EU to grant visa-free regime for Ukrainians within 2016:Juncker

Xinhua, November 24, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Union(EU) will grant visa-free regime for Ukrainians by the end of this year, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday.

Juncker made the remarks at a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko after the 18th EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels.

"Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions being set for this purpose...we should now deliver on visa liberalization,"said Juncker.

Following a Commission proposal published in April, the Council of the EU on November 17 agreed a negotiating position on visa liberalization for Ukrainians.

Once the new visa regime for Ukraine is agreed with the Parliament and formally adopted, it will provide for visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens when travailing to the EU, for a period of stay of 90 days in any 180-day period.

However, taking into account of the migratory situation in the EU, the Commission proposed to strengthen the current suspension mechanism, making it easier for member states to notify circumstances which might lead to a suspension.

In December 2015 the Commission concluded that Ukraine had met all the benchmarks for the visa-free requirement.

Apart from the issue of visa-liberalization, the EU chiefs and Ukrainian president discussed the bloc's support for the Ukrainian reform agenda, particularly on anti-corruption, at the summit. Endit