European Commission to present proposal for visa liberalization with Ukraine in April
The European Commission (EC) will present a proposal for visa liberalization with Ukraine in April. This was reported by the chairman of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, after a meeting on Thursday, March 17th in Brussels with the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko. The President of the European Commission said that both sides are interested in facilitating travel for their citizens. He noted that Kiev has opened the way for the liberalization of the visa regime by undertaking "huge reforms" as part of the conditions set by the EU.
Petro Poroshenko welcomed this statement and said that Kiev and Brussels have agreed to hold a summit on May 19th. He stressed that his country is doing "everything possible" to stop the conflict in the eastern Ukraine and to fulfill the Minsk agreements, but unfortunately "does not see anything resembling this from the Russian side."
President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, in connection with the second anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea, has stressed that the EU does not recognize these actions from Moscow. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, after meeting with Poroshenko, also emphasized that the EU does not recognize the "illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia."
They pointed out that the sanctions against Russia may be dropped only after the full implementation of the Minsk agreements. They also called on Moscow to immediately release Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko.