Ukraine accused France of delaying visa-free regime
The Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, stated in an interview with Obozrevatel that the implementation of a visa-free policy for Ukrainian citizens has been delayed by France.
“The delay has occurred due to the position of individual member countries that are having difficulties crossing the psychological boundary regarding visa liberalization with one of the largest countries in Europe. And I would like to mention France. This [the visa-free regime] has to be recognized, regardless of France’s perception of the issue. I hope that France will not delay the process until after their presidential elections in April 2017,” Yelisieiev noted.
On the 15th of December, the European Parliament approved the suspension of the visa-free policy, removing the last obstacle to the implementation of the policy. However, the consideration of this issue by the European Parliament has been postponed for an indefinite period of time.
The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, previously stated that there are countries in the European Union that aren’t ready to proceed with visa liberalization for Ukrainian citizens. According to him, France, Italy, Germany, and Belgium are among them.