“Ukraine is returning home.” Those were the words of President Petro Poroshenko on May 11, when European Union member states approved the long-awaited waiver of visa requirements for Ukraine.
Three days later, at a press conference in Kyiv, Mr. Poroshenko cited Ukraine’s closer ties with the European Union as a major achievement. That same day he participated in a flag-raising ceremony on the occasion of Europe Day in Ukraine – a day that has become all the more significant, he said, due to Ukrainians’ sacrifices during the Euro-Maidan-turned-Revolution of Dignity (2013-2014) when the people rose up to defend the country’s European future and to demonstrate that their country’s civilizational choice was with Europe, not the “Russian world.”
Mr. Poroshenko also cited Russia’s all-out effort to impede Ukraine’s movement toward the West: “Only crazy people can consider Ukraine to be part of the so-called ‘Russian world.’ Ukraine is part of a united Europe stretching from Lisbon to Kharkiv. For three years Russia has tried everything to block Ukraine’s path towards the EU. But nothing will stop our path to Europe.”
On May 17, the Ukrainian president was in Strasbourg, at the European Parliament, for the signing ceremony for the new visa-liberalization regime. “It is an absolutely historic day for Ukraine, for my 45-million nation, and I am absolutely confident that this is a historic day for the European Union,” Mr. Poroshenko said. He underscored that, with this agreement, “Ukraine returns to the European family. Ukraine says a final farewell to the Soviet and Russian empire.”
After being published in the European Union’s official journal on May 21, the long-sought agreement will go into effect 20 days later, on June 11. According to Mr. Poroshenko, some 3.3 million Ukrainian citizens now have the biometric passports required for visa-free travel – for tourism, business or family reasons – for up to 90 days, within any 180-day period, to the so-called Schengen zone that includes 26 European countries. The visa liberalization was widely celebrated by Ukraine’s people who said they felt their country had taken another huge step toward Europe and that Europe had accepted them. Indeed, as Yale historian Prof. Timothy Snyder explained in his talk at the United Nations on May 16, the European Union is more important for Ukraine than NATO membership. Furthermore, the scholar noted that the EU is also more threatening for Russia as it represents the rule of law system that threatens the Russian elite.
The president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, said the visa liberalization was a “good message” to “very pro-European” Ukraine, and he hailed the new travel rules as “the beginning of a new era.” What will that new era bring? More freedom to travel, of course. But also yet another move away from Russia’s sphere of influence. And farther down the road, as the deputy head of the presidential administration, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, commented to journalists on May 17, Ukraine’s ambition is to make the eastern border of Ukraine the eastern border of the European Union. For Ukraine always was, and is, Europe.