Indicative date of April, 3, that is predicted to be the date of Europarliament plenary sitting regarding visa waiver for Ukraine, still may be changed to earlier one if negotiations with the Council of the EU go faster, says Head of Press Unit and Deputy Spokesperson of EP Marjory van den Broeke replying request by “Europe without barriers”.
“The date on the website is only a technical forecast based on previous cases that can be changed if negotiations with the Council (of the EU) go faster. The European Parliament has been ready to negotiate visa liberalisation with the Council since September”, – she said.
Also she added that formal adoption of visa waiver suspension mechanism that was approved today is scheduled for “early 2017” after the necessary legal checks (after being voted in EP text of proposal is translated to all EU official languages and verified by lawyer linguists – EWB).
Similar comments were given to Ukrainian media by other representatives of European Parliament.
“No one postponed anything. No formal decisions have been taken on the matter, as the date could be changed. The thing is that as soon as the EU Council announces the beginning of inter-institutional negotiations, they could be completed within a day, and the matter could be put to a vote at the next plenary session. The task of the European Parliament is to adopt this decision as soon as possible”, – said source in EP to UNIAN agency.
Maud Noyon, the press officer of European Parliament, told the Kyiv Post that the date was put there by mistake and would be removed.
Earlier on December, 15 President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz told during EU summit that “it is time for the Council to stop dragging its feet”.
“Granting visa-free travel to the Schengen area for Ukrainian citizens would be another much needed message of support. The European Parliament has been ready to negotiate since September and we sincerely hope to finalise the agreement with the Council in January”, – he said.
