"Today we are fulfilling our obligations to provide Ukrainians with the possibility of visa-free and short-term trips," said European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs Dimitris Avramopoulos. Now the European Commission's proposal must be considered at a meeting of the Council of the European Union and also in the European Parliament.
If this European Commission proposal is approved, Ukrainian citizens with biometric passports will be able to come to the Schengen Agreement countries for up to 90 days. However, such free entry does not give the right to employment. In case of a business trip or family circumstances, the period of visa-free visits to the EU can be extended up to 180 days.
As RFI (Radio France Internationale) recalls, negotiations on a visa-free regime between Ukraine and the European Union began back in 2008. The abolition of short-term visas was one of the points of the Association Agreement with the EU signed in 2014 by Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. The EU introduced a visa-free regime with Chisinau immediately in 2014. And in Kyiv, the new authorities had to carry out a series of legislative reforms.