Why are we talking about convergence with the Schengen but not joining the EU? What benefits can it bring, and what are the risks? Integration into the Schengen area, association or membership? On what examples can Ukraine orient?
Iryna Sushko, Executive Director of “Europe without Barriers”, answered these and other questions for the program Hromadske.Svit with Volodymyr Yermolenko.
“Defining the definitions is one of the important questions, if not the most important. For today, Norway has a classic version of the association with the Schengen zone. But I would not say that this case is completely relevant to Ukraine.
I think that it would be more correct for us to use the “integration into the Schengen space, because space, in this case, would mean that we would approximate our standards, norms, legislation, or perhaps some technical criteria for the correspondences of the European Union and the Schengen zone. This is extremely important, and I believe that it is very practical, it has some definite practical advantages.
At the same time, when we speak about the association with the Schengen area, it is extremely important to understand very well that we are not a member of the European Union, today we are not a member of the European Economic Area, although we have other integration tools. Hence, our way may be absolutely special. At the same time, we can focus on certain countries with their particular history, but very-very relatively.
Translated from Ukrainian by Ukrainian Think Tanks Liasons Office in Brussels