• Ukraine: signed a visa facilitation and readmission agreement with the EU in June 2007, which entered into force in January 2008. In May/June 2010, talks were underway between Ukraine and the EU to amend the agreement. Poland and the Baltic states have called for visa-liberalisation talks to be launched, and a roadmap for visa liberalisation between Ukraine and the EU was discussed at the EU Council Foreign Affairs meeting on 22 April 2010. EC Commissioner Štefan Füle indicated that there was a possibility of a roadmap (currently termed “action plan”) being launched in autumn 2010 if four conditions were met:
-
introduction of issuance of biometric passports
-
establishment of migration service
-
ratification of Council of Europe convention and national legislation on data protection, and establishment of data protection body
-
respond to EC questionnaire on issuance of passports, personal data protection, and document security.
The EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council, meeting on 15 June 2010, welcomed the decision of the EU-Ukraine Justice, Freedom and Security Ministerial meeting conclusions of 9 June 2010 to move the dialogue on the establishment of a visa-free regime as a long term perspective into “an operational phase”. This would involve the drawing up of a two-phase Action Plan setting out the reforms that Ukraine should undertake in working towards this goal.
On 22 November, 2010, Ukrainian and European leaders agreed on an Action Plan for Ukraine to join the visa-free travel area.
• Moldova: signed a visa facilitation and readmission agreement with the EU in October 2007, which entered into force on 1 January 2008. The visa facilitation agreement sets a lower visa fee (€35 instead of €60) for all applicants, and waives fees for broad categories of citizens such as children, pensioners, students, people visiting family members living in the EU, people in need of medical treatment, economic operators working with EU companies, sportsmen and women, participants in cultural exchanges, journalists, etc.
The “visa dialogue” process with the EU was launched on 15 June 2010. “The visa dialogue will allow the EU and the Moldovan authorities to examine the technical preconditions for the establishment of a visa-free regime for Moldovan citizens. The dialogue will focus on key areas such as security of travel documents, border and migration management, as well as relevant public order and security and external relations issues.”
The aim of the dialogue is to examine the relevant conditions for visa-free travel of Moldovan citizens to the EU as a long-term goal, according to a European Commission press release.
A common Schengen visa application centre has been established in Chisinau, and an EU border assistance mission is working in Moldova to help the development of border infrastructure.
On 24 January, 2011, EU officials delivered a copy of an Action Plan to authorities in Chisinau, outlining the full list of criteria Moldova must fulfill in order to gain visa-free status.
• Belarus: talks underway towards negotiation of a visa facilitation agreement (likely to take longer than in the case of the other countries due to the lack of an ENP Action Plan – Belarus is the one country of the six EaP countries not to have signed an ENP agreement with the EU). The Belarusian government is asking for visa-free travel, but conditionality from the EU side includes:
-
freeing of political prisoners
-
independence of the media
-
respect for human rights
South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia):
On 14 June 2010, the EU Council on Foreign Affairs invited the European Commission “to develop before the end of 2010 a plan on how to take co-operation forward” in the area of concluding visa facilitation and readmission agreements, and once these are successfully concluded and implemented, moving “towards a controlled process taking gradual steps towards visa-liberalisation as a long-term goal, on a case-by-case basis, as well as describe the conditions for well-managed and secure mobility”.
• Georgia: signed a visa facilitation and readmission agreement with the EU in November 2009. The agreement enters into force on 1 March 2011. Steps undertaken to date include border police reform, anti-corruption measures, and the introduction of biometric passports.
The visa facilitation agreement makes it easier and cheaper for Georgian citizens, in particular those who travel most, to acquire short stay visas for travels to and throughout from €60 to €35 for all Georgian citizens and provide a total exemption from the visa fee for certain categories of applicants, e.g. close relatives who are visiting Georgian citizens residing in the EU, pensioners, children below the age of 12, disabled persons, scientists, students and journalists.
• Armenia: talks underway towards negotiation of a visa facilitation and readmission agreement.
• Azerbaijan: talks underway towards negotiation of a visa facilitation and readmission agreement.
The road to a roadmap
In the case of the Western Balkans, in 2008 the European Commission developed detailed roadmaps setting out clear benchmarks to be met in the coming years in order to advance towards visa-free travel. The roadmaps for the Western Balkans can be adapted to the EaP context.
A roadmap, or equivalent process, with benchmarks towards visa-free travel will provide a clear framework and targets for monitoring fulfillment of the EU’s criteria. This will be crucial to shaping and encouraging engaged and informed policy debates on visa-related reforms among policymakers, civil servants, civil society and the media in the EaP countries. This in turn will provide a clear focus and target audiences for raising awareness about the prospects for visa-free travel, and for conducting corresponding advocacy work.
The Roadmaps for the Western Balkans identified four sets of issues to be covered by the dialogue:
• document security;
• illegal migration;
• public order and security;
• external relations and fundamental rights items linked to the movement of persons.
Key elements of the platform included:
• improvement of document security/ in particular the introduction of biometrics in travel documents/;
• better management of migratory risks;
• efficient law enforcement cooperation/ including cooperation with Europol;
• enhanced measures to fight against organised crime and corruption.
The effective implementation of the Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements was a concrete stage and pre-condition for the success of the visa liberalisation dialogue.
The objective of the questionnaires and criteria for the visa dialogue process, or future roadmaps/action plans, for the EaP states will be to set up clear requirements and identify all the measures that need to be adopted and implemented by the EaP states in the near future.
