President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday discussed the acceleration of a process of granting Ukraine a visa-free regime and the ratification of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, according to the president`s press service.
”The president of Ukraine and the German chancellor discussed the issues of acceleration of granting the Ukrainians a visa-free regime [in the EU] and ratification of the [Ukraine-EU] Association Agreement,” the press service wrote.
As reported earlier, on April 20, the European Commission proposed the European Parliament and Council of Europe to lift visas for Ukrainian citizens. This proposal came as a result of the positive assessment by the European Commission in December last year of Ukraine`s successfully fulfillment of all criteria under the Visa Liberalization Action Plan.
On September 26, the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) backed a report on granting Ukraine a visa-free regime and greenlighted negotiations between the EU institutions.
On October 9, Ukraine`s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin expressed hope that the EU would make a positive decision regarding the introduction of a visa-free regime with Ukraine in October-November.
