Visa Dialogue Between Ukraine And Eu: Models And Perspectives

Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine

It is well known that the Agreement on Facilitation of Visa Issuance between Ukraine and EU presupposes “introduction of visa free regime for the citizens of Ukraine as a long term perspective”. In negotiation process in terms of Agreement on Association the parties agreed on launching the so-called “visa dialogue” aimed at introduction of symmetrical visa free regime between Ukraine and EU as a final goal.

Official declaration of visa dialogue launching is expected to be made during Ukraine-EU Summit on September 9th, 2008.

Admitting the perspective for visa free regime is an important fact however it cannot be perceived as an exclusive success of Ukraine: similar dialogues are conducted with Russian Federation (since 2007) as well as with Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro (since spring of 2008).

The reason that Russia surpassed Ukraine in visa dialogue though it considerably lagged behind Ukraine in terms of developing new basic agreement is the result of the negotiations on migration regime for Kaliningrad region (2003-2004) according to which the parties agreed to launch negotiations on visa free regime. Although Russia has certain experience in conducting “visa dialogue” with EU while Ukraine merely opens such dialogue, Ukrainian party should not be upset as the experience gained by Russia over the last year allows projecting future dialogue format and preventing the risks that may turn visa dialogue between Ukraine and EU into an endless process.

Experience of European Union in terms of launching “visa dialogue” with different countries proves that the content, intensity and applied instruments may differ considerably depending on political motivation. Thus “visa dialogue” may de facto mean different policy leading to different outcomes of the efforts made. Currently we may speak about at least two different models of “visa dialogue” suggested by EU – extensive and intensive.

Russian or “extensive” model

What is a “Russian model”? The basic document is the “Roadmap on the Common Zone of Freedom, Security and Justice” approved in Moscow on May 10th, 2005 during the Summit Russia-EU. The document presupposes to “intensify the dialogue on visa policy on expert and political levels aimed at exploring the conditions for mutual visa free travel regime as a long-term perspective”.

The dialogue on visa free regime introduction between Russia and EU was launched during the meeting of EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council on freedom, security and justice on April 23-24, 2007 in Moscow when “The Visa Dialogue Procedure to Examine the Conditions for Visa-free Travel as a Long Term Perspective” was approved. We should pay attention to the fact that this event took place two years after the approval of the “Roadmap”. The document title itself emphasizing “conditions examination” and “long term perspective” demonstrates overall cautiousness of EU and its unwillingness to stimulate any overestimated expectations of Russia. Informal negotiations lasted for the next year and only on April 25th, 2008 (a year after the approval of “The Procedure”) Partnership Council held its official meeting in Saint-Petersburg. According to the Aid to the President of Russia Mr. Victor Ivanov during this meeting “Russia and EU launched concrete dialogue on visa regime elimination”.

Mr. Ivanov also stated that three main dialogue directions were formulated: document security (raising passport reliability), fighting illegal migration, convergence of criminal and administrative legislature and cooperation between law enforcement agencies.

The dialogue was launched but its intensity is not high and this fact was pointed out by Russian party on the political level. During the Russia-EU Summit in Khanty-Mansiysk on June 26th-27th, 2008 Russian party emphasized that “the quickest transition to visa free regime with European countries is a strategic task for us” (this statement was made by another Aid to the President of RF – Mr. Sergiy Pryhodko).

EU visa dialogue with Russia has its own specifics as Russia is the only country officially negotiating visa free regime with EU on symmetrical terms – EU citizens still need visas in order to enter the territory of Russia while other countries of “visa dialogue” including Ukraine unilaterally lifted visa obligations for EU citizens. Thus the subject of negotiations is considerably wider as European party uses this dialogue in order to solve numerous issues that EU citizens face while entering and staying on the territory of Russia. Besides, the introduction of visa free regime by Russia for “non-citizens” is being discussed. “Non-citizens” are residents of Latvia and Estonia who did not receive national citizenship provoking considerable annoyance inside political circles of these countries.

Thus, the wider negotiations subject - the slower the negotiations process. We should understand that unlike societies in Ukraine or Serbia, citizens of Russia do not demand from their own government to speed up the process of visa free regime introduction by EU and thus political elite is less motivated to fasten this process.

Visa dialogue with RF does not include any specific monitoring instruments apart from those laid down in the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation, i.e. Permanent Partnership Council and dialogue in the framework of expert groups. No permanent progress evaluation on a regular basis is planned.

As for prognoses, only some politicians foresee quick introduction of visa free regime between Russia and EU: for example, Head of International Committee of Derzhavna Duma of Russia Mr. Kostyantyn Kosachov assumed that such regime could be introduced in 2-3 years. Both Russian and European experts do not agree with such prognosis – taking into account current intensity of the process negotiations may last 10 years or even longer.

Thus, we may observe an “extensive” model of movement towards visa free regime in the case of Russia. Such model does not include any clear criteria, benchmarks or regular monitoring.

Balkan or “intensive” model

A completely different model is applied in case of the Western Balkan countries (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro): it was introduced in the conclusions of EU Council on General Affairs and External Relations. These conclusions were approved on January 28th, 2008 and are based on the Communication from the European Commission on Western Balkans. These documents state that European Union should offer countries of the region detailed roadmaps with detailed priority description and ways of their realization.

In order to implement Council’s conclusions in April-May 2008 the European Commission developed and presented to all the countries relevant “roadmaps towards visa free regime”. The European Commissioner for EU Enlargement Mr. Olli Rehn personally presented these documents in the state capitals, for example, on May 8th the presentation took place in Belgrade.

Structurally “roadmaps” (look: attachment) consist of the following priorities:

1. Document security (passports, ID cards) in compliance with European standards including introduction of biometric components and fighting corruption in the system of passport issuance.
2. Fighting illegal migration and implementing agreements on readmission. Border management policy and asylum procedure.
3. Public order and security, fighting organized crime, cooperation in judicial and law enforcement spheres.
4. External relations and fundamental human rights including ensuring the rights of national minorities and refugees.

The final part of the document states that achievement monitoring in the given sphere will be made on a regular basis. The additional criteria concerning the preparedness of the country for the visa free regime is the reduction of visa refusal rate towards 3% of the general number of applications (for comparison, according to EU data current relevant Ukrainian indicator is 6-8%, and in the past years it equaled to 12-14%).

The plan of European Union includes providing Balkan countries with technical and expert assistance in order to reach the criteria necessary for visa free regime introduction in the quickest way and to the full extent.

European Commission should present a report to the EU Council on the progress achieved in every country and the first report will be published at the end of this year.

The logic and even the content of Balkan “road maps” are considerably different from the documents signed with Russia. While in the case of Russia “equality between partners and mutual respect of the interests” is emphasized, “road maps” for Balkan countries are more like the list of methodological recommendations and mandatory regulations to be followed by the countries in order to receive visa free regime as soon as possible. Thus the result of the process will be different: Russia is not ready to exchange the status of “equal partner” for freedom of movement and that is why its citizens will await European visas in lines for a long time.

Realization of road maps offers much more optimistic time perspectives for Balkan countries and it allows to foresee approval of visa free regime introduction over the next 2-5 years (such countries as Macedonia and Montenegro are in better position and they may receive positive decision faster than Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Albania, although hypothetically on political grounds European Union may approve the decision concerning all the countries simultaneously).

Thus, “visa dialog” with Balkan countries was properly structured from the very beginning and it included the instruments allowing starting preparations for visa free regime much more intensively than with Russia.

Perspectives of “visa dialog” for Ukraine

What model will be offered for Ukraine? Currently there is no final answer to this question. EU countries are in the process of developing common position. There is no doubt that traditional “skeptics”, primarily Germany, Belgium and Spain will oppose to providing better conditions for Ukraine than those Russia is under.

Certainly, Ukraine sends signals concerning its willingness to apply “Balkan model” of visa dialog. At the same time the position of higher state officials raises concerns as they show interest in demonstrative, external side of the case and not in the content issues. There is a risk that Ukrainian officials may settle for ceremonial launching of “visa dialog” and agree to the conduct the process in the direction of “Russian model”.

The question whether European Union will provide Ukraine with “Roadmap towards Visa Free Regime” or the process will be limited exclusively by starting consultations is a principal one. European Council’s Approval of joint Polish-Swedish EU Eastern Policy Proposal – “Eastern Partnership” on June 20th testifies to the benefit of “roadmap”. This document relating to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and potentially Belarus states that “the road map towards visa freedom, with clearly laid down steps and conditions, should be established”. Thus “Eastern Partnership” support on behalf of EU may be interpreted as its eadiness to follow intensive way in the framework of visa dialogue with Eastern European countries. At the same time there are no relevant guarantees, thus opposition of skeptics is supposed to be a strong one.

It will be wrong to perceive the consent of EU to launch “visa dialogue” with Ukraine as the next “great diplomatic success” of Ukraine without specifying content and procedure issues, defining action plan for a short term perspective and creating efficient instruments for regular monitoring.