BRUSSELS – Ukrainians have enjoyed visa-free travel to most European Union countries since June 2017, making 1.9 million visits with their new biometric passports.
And Ukrainians will, for now, keep the right to make short-term stays of up to 90 days: While an annual EU report released Dec. 19 shows problems with “irregular” migration, it concludes that Ukraine is overall meeting the required benchmarks set by the agreement, which are monitored closely by the European Commission.
Irregular migration includes when people enter a country with false documents or without crossing official borders, or if they violate the terms of an entry visa or permanent residency permit. The definition also includes illegal employment by those who have no work permit.
The report concludes that “immediate actions are also needed to address irregular migration challenges.” The commission calls for greater cooperation from Ukraine in decreasing illegal or irregular migration by Ukrainian nationals to the Schengen area, which comprises 26 European states that have officially abolished passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders.
According to the statistics, between 2016 and 2017, entry refusals increased by 47 percent, from 22,495 refusals to 33,105 refusals.
The number of Ukrainians found to be illegally residing in the EU rose slightly in 2017 compared to 2016, to 33,485 from 29,570, or a 13-percent increase.
According to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency data, the trend between the first half of 2017 and the first half of 2018 indicates a considerable increase in the number of refusals of entry but no increase in illegal stays.
In the first half of 2018, the number of asylum applications submitted by Ukrainians decreased by 9 percent compared to the same period of 2017, to 4,710 applications. In the first half of 2017 there were 5,280 such applications.
The total number of asylum applications in 2017 was 10,075, a 19 percent decrease compared to 2016, when there were 12,460 asylum applications. The asylum granting rate was 20.41 percent in 2016 and 16.24 percent in 2017.
The report also said that Kyiv should continue to organize information campaigns on the rights and obligations of visa-free travel.
An additional shortcoming was that Ukraine has so far failed to revoke legislative amendments from March 2017 that expand the obligation of public asset declarations to anti-corruption activists.
Moreover, continued attacks over the past year against anti-corruption activists are raising concerns in the EU. Investigations into these attacks are progressing slowly, and the commission, therefore, urges a repeal of the asset declaration requirement for civic activists and an end to interference with their activities.
European officials have still more concerns about the effectiveness and independence of new anti-corruption institutions, such as the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, or NABU, and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the report reads.
A pending audit of the NABU has raised concerns in the EU about political interference to undermine the independence of the bureau’s leaders. NABU, for instance, has no ability to conduct wiretaps independently. Its ability to conduct investigations into complex corruption cases is hampered by the failure of the National Agency for Corruption Prevention to grant direct and automated access to its database of asset declarations, as well as stricter time limits on criminal investigations, the EU report reads.
The European Commission also wants Ukraine to ensure that the High Anti-Corruption Court swiftly becomes operational and that a public council of international experts plays a proper role in the selection process. It also wants Kyiv to re-establish the independence and credibility of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office, and to establish a fully functioning system for the verification of asset declarations, notably by ensuring automated access to all remaining registers and databases, in order to produce a convincing track-record of effectively verified declarations.
The commission also wants Ukraine to strengthen its National Police and improve cooperation among law enforcement agencies to combat organized crime, especially cybercrime.
Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, explaining the findings on Dec. 18 in the EU administrative headquarters of Brussels, underlined that Ukraine “should take immediate action to ensure that the measures introduced with previous reforms in this area continue delivering the result.”
Avramopoulous said that “it is in our common interest to ensure that visa-free travel can be maintained, that the reforms achieved are sustained, and that the countries do not backtrack on their achievements.”
The EU has visa-free regimes with Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine.
The commission will monitor the situation and report to the European Parliament and the European Council next year.
