It’s taken nine years of negotiations, a series of painful decisions and one pro-Western revolution, but Ukraine is nearly there.
The European Parliament voted for visa-free travel for Ukraine during a session in Strasbourg on April 6. A total of 521 of its 751 members supported the decision.
While this is just the latest stage in granting Ukrainians the ability to visit most EU countries without having to apply for visas, it’s also one of the last.
It’s also a blow against Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his Kremlin regime’s aim to keep Ukraine in a tight orbit around Moscow.
“(The vote) is a strong signal to the aggressor (Russia) that Ukraine is on its way back to the European family,” Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine on European Integration, said on April 6.
Now only a few more formalities remain for the visa-free travel to come in effect. The decision has to be formally approved by the European Union’s Council of Ministers, and then published in the EU Official Journal. The visa exemption will enter into force 20 days after its official publication.
EU lawmakers had a tense debate about Ukraine on April 5. But by the evening of that day, the parliament press service reported that most parliamentarians supported the decision to enable Ukrainians to travel to European Union countries visa-free. Ukrainians who have biometric passports will be allowed to visit the countries of the Schengen Area for a period of 90 days every 180 days.
Dmytro Kuleba, the permanent representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, told the Kyiv Post on April 6 that the European Parliament vote was seen as failure of Russia’s long-term campaign to discredit Ukraine in Europe.
Visa legislation was approved by 521 parliamentarians, while 75 voted against. According to the voting list obtained by the Kyiv Post, the lawmakers that opposed the move were mostly from Euroskeptic and conservative political groups in the parliament, such as European United Left/Nordic Green Left, Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy and others.
“Furthermore, yesterday (on April 5) one of the members of the European Parliament told me that visa-free travel is a well-earned victory for Ukraine, and great smack down for Russia,” Kuleba said.
There was a false fire alarm in the EU Parliament building just before the debates on the Ukrainian issue on April 5. The members of the European Parliament were forced to leave the building.
“Some of them even joked that Russia’s FSB Federal Security Service was trying to block visa-free travel for Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
Visa liberalization for Ukraine will deliver greater freedom and more shared opportunities, said Rebecca Harms, a member of Greens Party in the European Parliament, and a firm supporter of Ukraine.
“It is a long-awaited and overdue step for Ukraine, which sends a strong signal: we belong together,” Harms said in the official statement on her website.
The European Parliament’s decision was praised in Ukraine.
“The European Parliament, which represents the will of the majority of the citizens of the EU member states, has finally come to believe in the message we brought to the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2013: that Ukraine is Europe. Together we are able to achieve the goals and change the country,” Klympush-Tsintsadze wrote on Facebook.
Hard-earned recognition
Ukraine started its hard path towards the European integration back in 2008.
The EU-Ukraine dialogue on visa liberalization was officially launched in October 2008, and the Visa Liberalization Action Plan was presented to the Ukrainian authorities in November 2010.
In particular, the visa liberalization depended on: significant improvements in the level of document security, including biometrics; strengthening of border and migration management and asylum policy; reforms and cooperation in the area of public order and security, including legislation on preventing and fighting corruption and establishment of a single and independent anti-corruption agency; addressing external relations issues, including human rights and fundamental freedoms.
But during the EU Vilnius summit in Lithuania on Nov. 29, 2013, then-President Yanukovych refused to sign the Association Agreement with EU, blaming the Russian economic pressure on Ukraine, as well as the inadequacy of the financial assistance offered by the EU to counter this pressure. It looked like Ukrainians’ chance to obtain visa-free travel to the EU had also been lost.
It was then that investigative journalist Mustafa Nayyem, now a lawmaker with President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc in parliament, called on Ukrainians to protest, starting the EuroMaidan Revolution.
“I think without EuroMaidan we wouldn’t get such result,” Nayyem told the Kyiv Post on April 6.
Change continues
European Parliament rapporteur Mariya Gabriel confirmed on April 6 that Ukraine has fulfilled all EU requirements to obtain visa-free travel.
According to Harms, the reforms that Ukraine has undertaken to date are deeply impressive, especially considering the war forced on the country by Putin.
“This process of change must continue. The efforts to combat corruption and create trust in state institutions remain of central importance,” Harms added.
Hanna Hopko, an independent member of Ukraine’s parliament who chairs the Verkhovna Rada’s foreign affairs committee, says that the visa-free regime would also be a signal to foreign investors, as with this move the European Union acknowledges a certain level of stability and security in Ukraine. This is a joint victory for both Ukraine and the EU, Hopko wrote on Facebook.
“This means that Ukraine is comparable to neighboring countries in central Europe,” she said.
And Michal Boni, a Polish lawmaker in the European Parliament, said after the debates on April 5 that visa-free travel was not a gift to Ukrainians, “but the result of Ukrainians’ fight against corruption, and reforms in a time of war.”
