BRUSSELS – A supplementary agreement to the current agreement on visa facilitation should be signed, given the current political situation in Ukraine, Director for Immigration and Asylum at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Home Affairs Marta Cygan has said.
“This is a signal of support for Ukrainian society,” she said in
Brussels on Monday at a meeting of the European Parliament Committee on
Foreign Affairs.
She said that this was the position of the European Commission on the
discussion that was recently conducted in the European Union regarding
the signing of an agreement with Ukraine introducing amendments to the
current agreement on visa facilitation.
As reported, last week the European Commission recommended that the
Council of the European Union sign an agreement with Ukraine that will
amend the visa facilitation agreement extending the categories of
Ukrainians falling under the simplified procedure for getting visas.
Some European politicians, including Chairman of the European
Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Elmar Brok, called on the
European Commission not to sign the agreement before the upcoming
elections to the Verkhovna Rada.
“We are aware of the concern, which has recently been announced,
about whether it would be right to sign an additional agreement in the
current political situation [in Ukraine]. Let me say that we, the
European Commission, remain confident of the importance of signing the
agreement. It involves sending a signal to support Ukrainian society in
this political situation,” said Cygan.
The EC representative said that the additional agreement would
strengthen further contacts between people and simplify the existing
procedure for issuing visas.
“I’m asking you to support the signing of this agreement,” she said, addressing MEPs.
