Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikroski will call for his European colleagues on Monday to develop a road map for the introduction of a EU visa-free travel regime for Ukrainian citizens, the Brussels-based Contact radio station said.
Sikroski will put forward the proposal during a regular meeting of foreign ministers of EU 27 member states, Contact said.
The foreign minister is expected to call for the European Union to discuss the issue during newly elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's visit to Brussels.
Yanukovych was elected president of Ukraine in the February 7 runoff. The inauguration is scheduled for February 25.
The radio station quoted Sikroski as saying the EU could "test" the visa-free regime for Ukrainians by cancelling visa restrictions for a short period during the 2012 European Football Championship, which will take place in Poland and Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko expressed hope in late January that the visa regime with the European Union will be canceled in the near future, "first of all, because Ukraine is a democratic country."
Poroshenko said other reasons were that Ukraine "had no visas for European citizens for almost five years" and that the former Soviet state "has a visa-free regime with neighboring countries."
The minister said Ukraine needs to solve a number of problems for visa regulations to be canceled, in particular, improve its migration and passport systems.
BRUSSELS, February 22 (RIA Novosti)
