Russia is now closer to becoming an EU member state than the Ukraine, part of the Union’s Eastern Partnership programme. So runs a clearly exasperated front page article in Polska this morning. In a recent reply to a question tabled by Polish MEPs concerning visa requirements for Ukrainian citizens, the European Commission ruled out “full liberalization…in the near future.” This when visas for Russians travelling to the Schengen Area for short periods are to be waived - one of the outcomes of the 18 November EU-Russia summit. Indignant Polish experts are asking why the EU lifts visas for Serbs, but not for Ukrainians, given that one of the Eastern Partnership programme’s stated aims is a relaxation on travel requirements. Polska goes on to explain that the “continuing political mess in Ukraine,” is making Brussels jittery. “In the Brussels-Moscow-Kiev triangle, there’s been a definite shift in the Kremlin’s favour,” the Warsaw daily concludes.
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