You're reading: Tarasiuk says, Ukraine sees introduction of visa-free travel with EU as its priority in Euronest PA

Co-Chairman of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly(Euronest PA), and head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for European Integration Borys Tarasiuk has said he believes that Ukraine's activities in the Euronest PA will help introduce visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens to the EU.

"One of the priority tasks of the Parliamentary Assembly of Eastern Partnership is the issue of visa-free travel, which we view as in Ukraine’s practical interest in its activities as part of the Parliamentary Assembly," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

According to him, Ukraine’s active participation in Euronest PA will encourage the institutions and structures of the EU to take a more "balanced approach towards the visa-free regime for citizens of our country." Tarasiuk noted that Ukraine considers the parliamentary component of the Eastern Partnership initiative as an additional platform for the implementation of its national interests, which are aimed at speeding up Ukraine’s entry into the European Union.

As reported, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly was established in Brussels on May 3. Borys Tarasiuk from the Eastern Partnership countries and Kristian Vigenin from the European Parliament were elected its co-chairmen.

The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the parliamentary component of the Eastern Partnership. It consists of members of the European Parliament and parliaments of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. After the elections in Belarus in 2010 were declared as flawed by the OSCE, the membership of Belarus in Euronest was automatically suspended.