European Commission 4 August presented the fourth report on compliance by other countries with the conditions of a visa-free regime with the EU. The EU noted that the Ukrainian government adheres to the necessary requirements to continue visa-free travel, but put forward a number of recommendations – one of them concerns passports.
According to Sokolyuk, this recommendation came as a surprise to Ukraine, since until now Brussels has not even hinted that it sees a problem here.
“More precisely, three years ago, Slovakia and Hungary really raised this topic – they say, how can we distinguish Ukrainians who have two passports. But we gave a clear explanation that the EU satisfied. And I was very surprised to see the same” accusation “in the report of the European Commission , although there were no attempts to get our comments on these claims before, “Sokolyuk said.
Poland became the initiator of the demand. “Poland reported that the Ukrainian government issued simultaneously two or three biometric passports to some of its citizens, which in practice may lead to the fact that the corresponding citizens of Ukraine will stay (in the EU) for more than 90 days within a 180-day period,” in the document of the European Commission.
However, the SMS says that the European Union has all the information it needs to track such violators.
“For the EU border guard, there is no problem to calculate the 90-day period if he has data on the entries and exits of a citizen of Ukraine with different passports. if a person changes his name and surname, makes a new passport, etc. – this number will remain unchanged, “Sokolyuk explained.
The practice of obtaining a second passport for work needs or convenience when applying for visas was in effect in Ukraine even before the introduction of biometric passports. “Evropeyskaya Pravda” notes that citizens of many countries of the world (including Poland), as well as other states that have a visa-free regime with the EU, have the opportunity to obtain two passports, in particular, Moldova. However, the recommendation of the European Commission to abolish this practice concerned only Ukraine.
EU Council approved a mechanism for the suspension of visa-free regimes with third countries in February 2017. The EU reserves the right to return visas for any country that turns into a source of migration threat. In addition, a rollback in the implementation of reforms may become a reason for the possible cancellation of visa-free travel.
On May 11, 2017, the Council of the European Union decided to abolish visas for short-term travel for Ukrainian citizens. A month later visa-free regime It entered into force.
On October 6, 2020, a Ukraine-EU summit postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic was held in Brussels. The European Union assured that visa-free regime is not in dangeras Ukraine fulfills all the necessary criteria.
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