European Forum

EU might consider roadmap to visa-free travel for post-Soviet countries

Yesterday (10 May) Foreign Ministers of the EU in Brussels raised the prospect of offering Russia a roadmap for visa-free travel at their upcoming Summit in Rostov-on-Don, near the Black Sea coast, on 31 May. Poland, however, wants to make sure that the facilitation will not only be possible for Russia but for other post-Soviet countries as well, especially Ukraine.

EU’s roadmap
The roadmap of the EU is a list of reforms that a country has to put in place to qualify for visa-free travel, such as introduction of biometric passports, adoption of laws on data protection and improvement of border security. It does not oblige the EU to drop visa requirements on a set date. But it does oblige the EU to react if the target country meets the criteria.

“Eastern Partnership countries should not be forgotten”
The Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radek Sikorski, said the EU should not exclude the six post-Soviet countries that are included in EU’s Eastern Partnership program. This program  includes the three South Caucasian countries –Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – and Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. "The political impulse for intensifying visa dialogue must be the same for all these countries - Russia and the six countries of the Eastern Partnership, and we will defend this,“ Sikorski said.

Well-known issue in the region
Prior to starting visa-facilitation talks, Georgia had for years complained that the EU is undermining its territorial integrity by letting people with Russian passports, including those in its breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, travel on easier terms than people with Georgian passports.

Ukrainian diplomats are bitter that the EU is happy to open borders with Russia but not with Ukraine, despite the country’s democratic transformation.

Simplification of travel makes also a huge difference when it comes to feelings of ordinary citizens towards EU integration and their appetite for pro-EU reforms. A recent study by the Stefan Batory Foundation in Warsaw (Poland) noted that Polish consulates have granted 73 percent fewer visas to Belarusians since Poland joined the EU's passport free Schengen zone in 2007, tightening entry rules. A survey by a consortium of Ukrainian think tanks found that many people face queues, days-long delays, mysterious extra fees and unexplained refusals when trying to visit the EU. This all causes negative feelings of people towards EU membership.

Sources: EU Observer; Barents Observer