Medical staff dressed in protective gear prepare to screen Ukrainians arrived from abroad for the COVID-19 novel coronavirus at a drive-through testing center at the Kyiv Boryspil International Airport on March 25, 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic will likely not affect the current visa-free regime between Ukraine and the European Union, a top European Commission official has said. The pandemic does not automatically affect the visa-free regime between Ukraine and the EU, Deputy Director General of the European Commission for European Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations Katarina Mathernova stated in a discussion about European security, Interfax reported.
Mathernova said the visa-free regime is instead associated with conditions like reforming rule of law and justice in the country, and that this and other areas will continue to be closely monitored by the EU. But there is no reason for Ukrainians to worry about their visa-free travel being affected by coronavirus, Mathernova added, saying there is no automatic link between the COVID-19 pandemic and the visa-free regime. There are currently certain restrictions on movement both within the Schengen area and the EU, but these are only movement restrictions, and not a connection between the visa-free regime and the outbreak, she said during an online discussion at the Kyiv Security Forum.
