Ukraine hopes the EU will add it to the list of countries from which free entry is allowed in two weeks, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said.
“There is no policy in the recommendation of the European Commission. Every two weeks, the EU member states revise the list of third countries for free entry into the EU. The recommendation is formed, in particular, based on four factors: the rate of new cases of COVID-19 reported per 100,000 population over the previous 14 days, the number of tests in seven days, the level of positive tests and the nature of the virus, in particular the presence of more dangerous strains,” Nikolenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
He said the indicators in Ukraine for the period when the European Commission conducted the assessment, even exceeded the norm.
“It should be borne in mind here that the assessment of indicators was conducted not over the past days, but over the previous several weeks, when they were higher. Since we are now more and more approaching the norm established by the European Commission, on behalf of Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian Delegation to the EU is interacting with the European side to include Ukraine in the list during its next review,” the spokesperson said.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that the recommendation of the European Commission to open the EU borders for a certain list of countries is not legally binding.
“EU member states individually approve final decisions to weaken or strengthen travel restrictions. Accordingly, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is working with European countries on a bilateral level to simplify travel conditions for Ukrainians, in particular the recognition of vaccination certificates and digital COVID-19 certificates,” Nikolenko said.
The European Union has decided to prolong the economic sanctions against Russia, European Council President Charles Michel said on Friday.
“We have rolled over our economic sanctions against Russia: Moscow must do its part to ensure full implementation of Minsk Agreements,” he said on Twitter.
As of June 14, according to the incidence rates of COVID-19, Ukraine entered the “green” zone according to the EU criteria, the Coronavirus-info Telegram channel reported.
According to the report, the country has reached the lowest incidence rates in the last year, in particular, an indicator of 74.71 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population was recorded, with the EU criterion of 75 cases per 100,000 population.
As reported, last week all regions of Ukraine entered the “green” epidemic zone of COVID-19 in accordance with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has recommended that EU air carriers and non-EU airlines avoid Belarusian airspace, Western media outlets reported on Wednesday, citing the EASA.
Non-EU airlines authorized by the EASA when conducting operations to, from, and within the EU are advised to avoid operating in Belarusian airspace, it said.
The agency cited safety reasons following the May 23 Ryanair flight incident, which called into question the ability of the Belarusian authorities to provide safe air navigation services.
A Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land at the Minsk airport while passing through Belarus’s airspace on May 23. It was reported that the plane landed after the Belarusian security services were warned of a bomb threat. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ordered that a MiG-29 fighter jet be scrambled to shadow the passenger plane, which was carrying Roman Pratasevich, editor of the Telegram channel Belarus Golovnogo Mozga (Belarus of the Brain) and former editor of the Telegram channel Nexta, both designated as extremist in Belarus, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen and student of the European Humanities University based in Vilnius. The Belarusian authorities have detained both of them.
The European Union (EU) has invested EUR 1 billion in vaccine research and EUR 2.9 billion in expanding production capacity, the press service of the German Embassy in Kyiv said. “The study now needs support to protect the world from new strains of viruses. At the same time, Germany is also helping within the EU. The EU has already invested EUR 1 billion in vaccine research and EUR 2.9 billion in expanding production capacity,” the message reads.
The press service noted that the rapid development of vaccines against COVID-19 became possible thanks to international scientific cooperation.
“One example is the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, which was the first to be registered in the EU. The German married couple of researchers Ozlem Tureci and Professor Ugur Sahin and their team developed a vaccine in Germany in a very short time with funding from the federal government,” the press service said.
Ukraine, as a European country, has the right to become a member of the EU, but must first fulfill the Association Agreement and the reform program, a high-ranking European official has said.
“We are linked with Ukraine by the Association Agreement signed in 2014, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) Agreement, and now we must do everything possible to make it a success story,” he said, announcing the participation of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in a videoconference of EU foreign ministers.
He noted that this agreement has a huge potential in terms of the economy and social development of Ukraine, while Brussels and Kyiv should focus their efforts on its implementation.
“Ukraine is a European country and in this capacity it can become a member of the EU,” he told journalists.
“But this is not what is on the agenda right now. Today we are talking about the implementation of the Association Agreement, about holding reforms, about things that usually precede the process of joining the union,” the official said.
He said that on Monday Kuleba will join the video meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU countries and will talk with them for about an hour.
“The Ukrainian army has been constantly on alert for seven years, Ukraine spends 6% of its GDP on defense, which it more needs on other budget items,” the official stressed.
In his opinion, Ukraine will be able to move forward, overcoming the conflict in the east of the country and actively pursuing reforms. At the same time, the EU is ready to provide financial and economic support to Kyiv.
“We will continue to do this, because we see this as the only possible way to ensure that Ukraine is a truly independent, sovereign country,” the EU official said.
