Results of monitoring of Consulates General of the Czech Republic and of Greece were presented in Donetsk

September 25, 2009, Donetsk Institute for Social Studies and Political Analysis conducted a roundtable on the results of the 3 rd stage of monitoring of Ukrainian citizens – applicants of consular institutions of the Czech Republic and of Greece in Ukraine, which are located in the cities of Donetsk and Mariupol.

The study was conducted within the framework of implementation of the All-Ukrainian Project for Monitoring of Visa Policy of European Countries of the Schengen Zone, supported by the International Renaissance Foundation. The Project is implemented by All-Ukrainian Consortium of Public Organizations “Europe Without Barriers”.

The subject of the study were evaluations by Ukrainian citizens, who passed various stages of procedure of getting visas. They evaluated the practices of issuance of visas at consular institutions of the Czech Republic and of Greece. Various methodologies of the study covered 300 applicants of both consulates.

The following became the participants of the discussion: public organizations, scholars, representatives of oblast state administrations and city councils. Consulates General of the Czech Republic and Greece were not able to take part in the discussion of the raised problems.

“Visa policy can be an indicator of relations between Ukraine and the European Union. Forward movement, both on the part of the Ukrainian state and on the part of the EU, to visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens will enhance European strive in the Ukrainian society and will demonstrate the goodwill of the EU regarding Ukraine’s European prospects”, stated Volodymyr Kipen, head of Donetsk Institute for Social Studies and Political Analysis, at the roundtable on the issues of visa policy between Ukraine and the EU.

According to the results of the study, currently the share of successful applications has decreased, if compared to the year of 2008. At that time, 10% of the polled applicants were denied of their visas for various reasons. Now, the total percentage of refusals is 15%. The drastic difference in the number of refusals in both consulates is evident: 25% in the Consulate General of Greece and 5% in the Consulate General of the Czech Republic. Consulates inform about refusals, referring to articles of their own legislation, and sometimes making it unclear for an applicant to understand a motivational reason for such a decision. It should be noted that the number of Ukrainians-applicants for visas, who have received negative results for their applications, is also rising due to refusals in the process of acceptance of documents on the very first stage of the visa procedure. Such people constituted another 4 percent in the study. Thus, in total, every fifth applicant for a visa is rejected. Very rarely Consulates General issue multi-entry and long-term visas.

A documented fact of frequent demands of various additional documents complicates the process of submission of documents for visas and irritates the citizens. 43% of the polled respondents submitted many other documents, in addition to standard ones. Currently, the situation has worsened, if compared to the year of 2008: At that time 26% of the polled had to submit other documents, in addition to the main ones. Such a practice is very widespread at the Consulate General of Greece.

Waiting in lines remains to be a problem for applicants of the Consulate of Greece. While 68% of the polled visitors of the Consulate of the Czech Republic do not stand in lines, 40% of the applicants of the Consulate of Greece stood from an hour to two hours in lines and another 39% — from two to three hours and more. Existence of lines and inconveniences for applicants both had objective and subjective reasons. The former include the following: influx of applicants at certain working hours of the consulate and interruptions in the rhythm of processing of documents, on the part of employees of the consulate. The latter include the following: inclination of a part of citizens to come long time in advance due to their fears of being late with registration.

Ukrainian citizens noted uncomfortable conditions for their presence in front of both consulates: there are no benches for sitting, no shelters from sun and rain, no trash cans and no restrooms. This aroused people’s complaints. And bodies of local authority are more likely to be expected to take care of that.

Among positive things, our citizens note that a share of issued free visas is increasing. More than half of the respondents (54%) got their visas for free, according to provisions of the Agreement between Ukraine and the EU on simplification of issuance of visas. The number of free visas, issued by the Consulate of Greece, is noticeably higher than those, issued by the Consulate of the Czech Republic (59% versus 48%).

The discussion confirmed both a certain progress in separate issues of visa policy of the Schengen countries regarding Ukrainians and the fact that the Agreement on simplification of issuance of visas, which became effective on the 1 st of January, 2008, is still being fulfilled not to its fullest extent.

According to the results of the public discussion, the participants of the roundtable unanimously supported an address of the Public Initiative “Europe Without Barriers”, called “Visa regimes in Europe have to disappear!” (www.noviza.org.ua). Representatives of the public also expressed their non-acceptance of appeals of certain Ukrainian politicians to abolish visa-free regime for citizens of the European Union as “a symmetrical” response to visa problems, being experienced by the Ukrainian citizens when they want to travel to the Schengen countries.

High-ranking state officials’ and politicians’ persistent inflation of the idea of abolishment of the regime of visa-free entry for the EU citizens does not add trust and constructive spirit into the relations between Ukraine and the EU and creates a great probability of hampering negotiation processes, which are currently being held regarding conditions of introduction of visa-free regime. As of today, Ukraine is the ONLY country among all countries-partners, covered by the European policy of neighborhood, that is conducting official negotiations regarding visa-free regime with the EU. This negotiation process has been lasting for half a year and it would be naïve to hope that it will be completed soon. Introduction of visa regime for the EU citizens will immediately hit our citizens on the rebound and will worsen conditions for issuance of visas by consulates of the EU countries and what is even worse — it will cast doubt on elaborations of the negotiation process and will undermine trust to Ukraine as a consistent partner.

Participants of the discussion urged the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not to introduce visa regime for the EU citizens and to focus their efforts on the corresponding negotiation process with the EU, as well as on internal reforms, which are necessary for the EU to introduce visa-free regime for the citizens of Ukraine.

Contact information of the executors of the project:

12, Shchorsa St., office 11, Donetsk, 83000, tel./fax (062) 305-02-59, e-mail:disrpa@gmail.com

			Daryna Nakonechna, European Program Project Coordinator tel: +380 (44) 461 9500 | fax: +380 (44) 486 0166 email: nakonechna@irf.kiev.ua office: Kyiv, Bekhterevsky Lane, 13-a, room 5