Presentations held in the European Parliament and in Brussels Press Club
Round table and presentations of art advocacy project "Visas? What's the reason?" organized by NGO "Europe without Barriers" were held on 14 November 2012 in the European Parliament and Brussels Press Club.
MEP Pawel Zalewski who hosted the event in the European Parliament stressed he called on for visa waiver of Ukraine and noted that neighour country Poland so far issues the biggest number of Schengen visas to Ukrainians. That means that Poland has no doubts that Ukrainian nationals act in good faith.
In turn, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andri Olefirov, who attended the event, said that he could not understand real motives for continued EU visa policy towards Ukraine. "If somebody considers 20 mln euro (of annual visas fees) to be a ground for visa policy, then I have doubts about such a policy", he said.
According to "Europe without Barriers" expert Oleksandr Sushko, it is important to see a positive background to promote the respective decision among the politicians. "We are not complaining about the problems, we are not blaiming anyone, but we stand for an advance of visa free refime all around Europe", he said.
The chairperson of the "Europe without Barriers" Iryna Sushko presented the findings of the last monitroing of EU member-states consular posts in Ukraine, noting that the biggest number of visa refusals to Ukrainian nationals comes from Italy and Netherlands consulates.
“There have been some improvements after the EU Visa Code was adopted, but they are not significant", noted I.Sushko.
The photo exhibition "Visas? What's the Reason" features photos of prominent Ukrainian sportsmen, researches, journalists who were refused in Schengen visas for different reasons.
Based on UNIAN reporting