In the course of the working visit to Belgium, President Petro Poroshenko and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker discussed the issue of the visa-free regime and emphasized that the Ukrainian party had achieved a significant progress in the fulfillment of its obligations on the establishment of the visa-free regime for Ukrainians by the EU.
Following the meeting, Petro Poroshenko expressed gratitude to Jean-Claude Juncker for supporting Ukraine in the issue of the visa-free regime. “Thank you for your high assessment of the Ukrainian progress. I am confident that the assessment mission that will arrive in Ukraine shortly will help us fix the progress and ensure respective decision by the European Commission in support of the visa-free regime,” the President emphasized.
Answering the question about the risk of illegal migrants for the EU, Petro Poroshenko noted: “Ukraine doesn’t create any difficulties on the border with the Schengen Area. If Ukraine fulfills all the necessary parameters, the Commission will certainly provide a positive conclusion and the EU member-states will endorse the visa-free regime. There are no migration risks”.
“I am glad that significant progress has been achieved in the given issue,” Jean-Claude Juncker noted. The President of the European Commission reminded that Ukraine had submitted the preliminary report on August 17. He emphasized: “I will personally do my best for the position of the European Commission to be as positive as possible”. According to Jean-Claude Juncker, there are still some issues to be solved and the Ukrainian party assured that all the required conditions will be fulfilled.
Speaking of the FTA between Ukraine and the EU, the parties confirmed that the document will start working in full on January 1, 2016. “Kyiv and Brussels have a joint position that it can’t be postponed,” Petro Poroshenko said. The Ukrainian President thanked President Juncker for his assistance in the process of ratification and implementation of the Association Agreement. “There are only two countries left – Greece and Cyprus. We agreed to appeal to them with a request to speed up the ratification process,” the Head of State informed.
The parties also discussed reforms in Ukraine. The President of Ukraine expressed gratitude to the President of the European Commission for the high assessment. “The support of the EU is essential for us,” Petro Poroshenko stressed. Separate coordination and assistance from the EU expert groups helps implement reforms in Ukraine, according to the President. “War and Russian aggression against Ukraine are not the reasons for avoiding reforms. As President, I firmly stand on the position of effective continuation of reforms,” Petro Poroshenko emphasized.