Spotlight: EU-Ukraine summit confirms Brussels support for Kiev, visa liberalization hangs in balance

The 18th European Union (EU)-Ukraine summit, which was held on Thursday, showed that Brussels is set to continue its financial and political support for Kiev, but the fate of visa liberalization for Ukrainian citizens is still unclear.

At the summit, the leaders of Ukraine and the EU have coordinated their positions on key issues of bilateral collaboration, signed a new deal on energy cooperation within the next 10 years, and agreed on a fresh financial support from the EU for implementing reforms in Ukraine.

Among other things, the bloc has allocated 15.9 million U.S. dollars for Ukraine to fight corruption, 110 million dollars to carry out public administration reform and some 55 million dollars to foster the rule of law.

In addition, the EU has pledged to provide Ukraine with a loan worth about 634 million dollars in the nearest future if the East European country finalizes the needed reforms.

"The summit has clearly outlined EU's further support for reforms in Ukraine and recognized the obvious progress made by Ukraine on this difficult path," said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister on European integration.

On the political side, the EU leaders reiterated their support to Kiev on the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which are aimed at resolving the crisis in east Ukraine, and promised further assistance on this path.

However, in spite of Kiev's expectations, the EU refrained from granting visa-free regime for Ukrainians and set no clear timeline for visa liberalization.

The move came as a surprise for many as last month Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that citizens of the East European country, who travelling to the Schengen area for short-stay trips, will obtain visa exemption during the summit.

Although European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker confirmed that Kiev has fulfilled all the conditions being set for this purpose, the EU delayed the implementation of the preferential travel rules, citing migratory concerns.

The liberalized travel regime would take effect after an introduction of a mechanism, which allows suspending it in an emergency, the EU said.

Ukrainian analysts were divided over the reasons behind the decision, with most of them suggesting that there is still no enough unity inside the EU regarding visa liberalization with Ukraine, where the conflict between government troops and pro-independence insurgents is underway.

"The delay in addressing this issue shows the real situation: there is no consensus inside the EU, not all the EU members are the friends of Ukraine, the EU itself is going through the hard times," said Vitaly Bala, director of the Kiev-based Situations Modeling Agency.

Meanwhile, other experts believe that possibly, there are some additional informal conditions set by the EU for Kiev to establish the visa-free travel.

"The EU confirmed that Ukraine has already fulfilled all the 144 requirements, but the visa-free regime is not approved. So, either it is an exceptional case, or there are some informal requirements," said Kyryl Sazonov, an independent political analyst.

He said that implementation of the provisions of the Minsk agreement, which are disputable in the Ukrainian society, including holding local elections in eastern Ukraine and granting amnesty to rebels detained during the conflict, could be the possible additional requirement for obtaining the visa-free regime. Endit