The FINANCIAL — On 20 December, the European Commission (EC) reported on the continuous fulfilment of the visa liberalisation benchmarks by the Eastern Partner countries Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine.
The report, which also includes Western Balkan countries, shows that, whilst the visa liberalisation requirements for the countries concerned continue to be fulfilled, action is required in a number of specific areas to preserve their sustainable implementation.
“We are fully committed to safeguarding visa-free travel for citizens of the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries and we are working together with their governments towards this goal,” said Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship. “But ensuring this comes with responsibilities, for both citizens and the relevant authorities.”
The report is the first assessment under the new monitoring mechanism for the eight countries that have concluded visa liberalisation dialogues with the EU. The assessment shows that all the countries have demonstrated strong commitment to meeting the necessary requirements and have undertaken important efforts to implement a number of far-reaching reforms set out under the visa liberalisation process, said the EC press release.
The EC will report again to the European Parliament and the EU Council on the continuous fulfilment of visa liberalisation requirements in 2018, according to EU Neighbours East Info.
For the Republic of Moldova, visa-free travel entered into force in April 2014, for Georgia in March 2017 and for Ukraine in June 2017.
