German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the reports about the European Union’s plans to suspend the visa-free regime with several countries, including Ukraine and Moldova, were fake news.
“Reading this news was just as unexpected for me as it was for everyone,” Steinmeier told reporters after a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu in Chisinau, the country’s capital.
“I asked about this in Berlin and at the Federal Interior Ministry and found out that this was not real news. This is fake news.”
On Sept. 29, media outlet EU Observer referred to an internal EU document, saying that some EU countries, including Germany, France, and Italy, have started a discussion on suspending visa-free travel to the bloc for citizens of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, as well as residents of the Balkan countries in light of large-scale violations of migration laws.
“In case of little or no improvement by third countries, the European Commission should, in our view, emphasize that triggering the Visa Suspension Mechanism is a real option,” EU Observer reported, citing the German delegation.
Under the Visa Suspension Mechanism, an increase of more than 50 percent in illegal stays or asylum applications with low approval rates can lead to visas being reintroduced.
Immediately after the media picked up this story, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, denied the reports, saying “there is no reason for such a decision, and there can be none.”
The ministry’s spokesperson, Oleg Nikolenko, told news outlet Ukrainska Pravda on Sept. 29 that in August, the European Commission published the fourth report on the fulfilment of requirements by the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries, including Ukraine, which analyzed 2020 and the first half of 2021.
“The report contains a positive assessment of our country’s compliance with the criteria of the visa-free regime,” Nikolenko said.
