Implementation of the EU-Ukraine Visa Liberalization Action Plan will increase the country's security, Ukrainian experts noted. The biggest problems, in their opinion, may currently be related to the war in Donbas, the delayed introduction of biometric passports, and the delay in creating anti-corruption structures.
Government promises
As early as early June in his inaugural speech, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised that a visa-free regime with the EU would become possible from January 1, 2015. However, as Alexander Sushko, director of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, recalled at a briefing in Kyiv on November 12, this is impossible if only because not a single Ukrainian, unlike citizens of Moldova, Russia, Armenia, and many other countries, has yet received a biometric passport.
The first biometric passports will begin to be issued at the beginning of next year, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk promised at a government meeting on November 5. Yatsenyuk stated that the government allocates 150 million hryvnia (about 75 million euros) for the purchase of more than 600 terminals for issuing biometric passports. "This means that we will install a corresponding terminal in almost every district," the prime minister indicated.
Risks of abuse
However, Sushko warned that EU experts must first assess the degree of data protection, passport forms, and measures to prevent any abuse of biometric passports. According to the expert, the results of this monitoring will be reflected in recommendations for granting Ukraine a visa-free regime.
The expert noted that out of 10-12 million Ukrainians who have foreign passports, at least 5-6 million will try to obtain biometric documents as soon as possible. After all, it is these that in the future may allow the EU to grant Ukrainians visa-free entry into the Schengen area. According to the expert's forecasts, meeting the demand for new passports will take from two to four years.
Border and refugees
Chairman of the public organization "Europe Without Barriers" Iryna Sushko noted that Brussels is satisfied with the progress Ukraine has demonstrated in strengthening border control. But the situation is spoiled by the war in Donbas and a section of the border with Russia several hundred kilometers long that is not controlled by Kyiv. "To prevent an influx of illegal migrants and guarantee the safety of foreign citizens in Ukraine, the border service will have to deploy border control along the ceasefire line separating the separatist-controlled areas of Donbas," Sushko believes.
Another problem could be refugees from Donbas and Crimea seeking asylum in EU countries. According to Alexander Sushko, their number has increased tenfold over the past year. For now, Brussels is not paying attention to this, but further growth in the number of refugees could negatively affect the granting of a visa-free regime to Ukraine, the expert noted.
He recalled that previously Ukraine did not even rank in the top thirty in terms of the number of refugees in the EU, where "Afghanistan and Russia were always in first place." "The authorities must take care of providing housing and social assistance to internally displaced persons so that they do not have to seek asylum in EU countries," Sushko is convinced.
Polish experience
Jakub Benedyczak, head of the international coalition "For a Europe without Visas," who came from Warsaw to study the visa situation in Ukraine, said that over the past year Polish border guards have not recorded a noticeable increase in the number of refugees.
Benedyczak stated that he considers the fact that Polish consular services are requiring an increasing number of documents from Ukrainians when processing visas to be a bad signal. According to him, in response to the organization's inquiry, the Polish Foreign Ministry could not provide satisfactory explanations for the reasons for the tightening of visa requirements.
Anti-corruption barrier
The most problems may occur with strengthening the fight against corruption in Ukraine, which is one of the conditions of the visa liberalization plan, Sushko said. "We have good results in the fight against organized crime, and no one expects us to defeat corruption in a matter of months. But in the first half of next year, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau must be established, as provided for by a recently adopted law," the expert said.
He considers this a difficult task for the government. After all, from the adoption of the law to the start of work of such an important body for visa liberalization as the State Migration Service, a full year and a half passed.
However, Iryna Sushko is confident that the new problems facing Ukraine can now be solved faster than in peacetime. And the implementation of the visa liberalization action plan, in particular strengthening borders, may in turn prove to be the factor that will help increase the level of security in the country.
Alexander Savitsky.
Deutsche Welle