Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said that Slovakia sees no problem in the abolition of EU visa requirements for Turkish citizens traveling to the European Union and in the country`s support for visa liberalization for Kosovo, Ukraine or Georgia, given the nominees meet the required criteria, Blic reports.
Lajcak stressed that the decision on granting a visa free regime mustnot be politicized: ”We do not want and certainly do not accept that when some countries fulfill the requirements will face the additional ones, while a blind eye will be turned toward other [applicant states] for the sake of passing a political decision,” said Lajcak, according to Blic citing the Slovak agency TASR reports.
Lajcak added that Slovakia generally appreciates and supports visa liberalization for Georgia, Ukraine and Kosovo.
Regarding Turkey, the Slovakian foreign minster said: ”We, and I am convinced the other EU Member States too, insist that Turkey fulfill all the criteria [for visa liberalization. And after that, I see no problem.”
As UNIAN reported earlier, on April 20, the European Commission stated that it has proposed the European Parliament and the Council of Europe to abolish visas for Ukrainian citizens, moving to Ukraine in the list of non-visa states.
This proposal was the result of the positive assessment by the European Commission in December last year, of Ukraine`s successful fulfillment of all the criteria of a visa liberalization action plan.
On April 26, Chairman of the European Parliament delegation to the Committee of the Ukraine-EU Association Andrej Plenkovic noted that the European Parliament needs a minimum of three months to complete all the necessary procedures related to the consideration of the proposal by the European Commission to grant Ukraine a visa-free regime.
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