Ukraine Slams EU Travel Rules, May Reimpose Visas

Viktor Baloga: `Such treatment is humiliating and clearly contradicts the spirit of the agreements reached between Kiev and Brussels.`

Ukraine is considering reimposing visas for European Union citizens, a top presidential aide said on Thursday, complaining of “humiliating” visa procedures for Ukrainians travelling to the EU. Ex-Soviet Ukraine scrapped visas for citizens of EU member states and several other countries after the 2004 “Orange Revolution” which brought President Viktor Yushchenko and a western-leaning political elite to power vowing EU integration.

Although talks on a visa-free regime have started with the EU, no date has been set and Ukrainians feel slighted by lengthy procedures with no guaranteed outcome.

“Practically every single Ukrainian, who either for business or tourism wants to go to Europe, can tell you a horror story,” Viktor Baloga, Yushchenko’s chief of staff, said in a statement.

“Such treatment is humiliating and clearly contradicts the spirit of the agreements reached between Kiev and Brussels.”

The EU says it has made visas easier to get since the start of last year but Ukrainians say the situation actually worsened with the expansion of the bloc’s free-travel Schengen zone — and its stricter visa requirements — to its eastern members. Ukrainians have to collect a bundle of documents including birth certificates, statements from their employers, bank statements for several months and proof of home ownership.

Costs fall if they go through travel agents, but then so does the choice of holidays, flights and hotels. From anecdotal evidence, it is not uncommon for young women to have their visa applications rejected.

Baloga said several options were being considered, “one of which is to return to issuing visas for the citizens of EU states”.

“The issue is not about changing Ukraine’s direction towards Europe but defending our interests. With such actions, Kiev hopes to prompt the governments of European countries to take real, and not theoretical, steps towards us,” he said.