DISINFO: Ukraine loses visa-free travel and 1.5 billion euros of loans from the EU
SUMMARY
Ukraine loses visa-free travel and 1.5 billion euros of loans from the EU.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine and its relations with the EU. This disinformation claim appeared following the approval by Verkhovna Rada, on September 17, of the representatives to the competition commission for the election of the head of the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. There is no intention to suspend visa-free travel. The last European Commission report, adopted on 10 July 2020, confirmed that Ukraine continued to fulfil the visa liberalisation benchmarks. Later, the Joint Declaration after the Ukraine-EU summit on October 6, 2020, welcomed the continued successful implementation of the visa-free regime for the citizens of Ukraine and underlined the importance of continuing to fulfil the visa liberalisation benchmarks and accelerating related reform efforts. The EU has mobilised 1.2 billion EUR macro-financial assistance programme for Ukraine. In the summit, the EU and Ukraine reaffirmed the emphasis on maintaining Ukraine’s macro-economic stability, keeping the IMF commitments on track and implementing all medium-term structural policies agreed within the EU macrofinancial assistance programme. Read a similar case: Visa liberalisation for Ukraine “bites the dust”.