Ukraine and Poland agree on liberal visa policies (02/23/03)

Ukraine and Poland agree on liberal visa policies

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine agreed on February 13 to a cost-free visa regime for its citizens who will travel to Poland after it enters the European Union next year. In return, Ukraine said it would allow Poles to continue entering the country freely, without the need for an official permit.

The proposal, put forward by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski after extensive discussion on the subject with European Union leaders, came during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, in the Ukrainian village of Huta, located near Ivano-Frankivsk.

Poland is required under its obligations as a future member-state of the European Union to develop visa regimes and strict border controls with all neighboring countries that are not EU members.

The two sides offered backslapping and upbeat appraisals of their agreement, with President Kuchma stating that the decision was "Mr. Kwasniewski's personal achievement," according to Interfax-Ukraine.

Nonetheless, an assessment by Polish Ambassador to Ukraine Marek Ziolkowski was a bit more reserved. Asked by journalists during a Kyiv press conference a few days later about the possible duration of such an agreement, he admitted that the situation would become more uncertain in a few years, when Poland became eligible for inclusion in the Schengen Accord.

That agreement allows unlimited, visa-free travel among several country-signatories within the EU and would force Poland to develop a much stricter visa regime with Ukraine. The Polish ambassador diplomatically put the problem on the back burner by explaining that no specific date had been set for accession to the Schengen Accord and perhaps by the time Poland joined there would be no need to show visas at the Ukrainian-Polish border.

The two presidents also seemed to resolve a heated historic debate that has raged on both sides of the border regarding the deadly battles between Poles and Ukrainians in the Volyn region of Ukraine in 1943. Messrs. Kwasniewski and Kuchma issued a joint statement in which they agreed that all the victims of the tragic events that occurred in Volyn should be commemorated. The document also noted that commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the tragic events must pave the way for overcoming disagreements between Ukrainians and Poles on their common history.

Some Polish scholars maintain that members of the fledgling Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) massacred up to 80,000 expatriate Poles who were living in the Volyn region at the time in operations in 1943, while Ukrainian historians maintain that the UPA battled with a Polish nationalist underground force, the Armija Krajowa, which was attempting to retain Polish control over the area. Around 20,000 Ukrainians are thought to have perished as a result of the fighting. Many historians state that German forces encouraged and Soviet partisan forces provoked the bloodletting, which at times occurred to settle old scores.

During a press conference after the one-day meeting in his Synia Hora presidential residence, which is located just outside of Huta not far from the Polish border, Mr. Kuchma said that while the historical record must be set straight, relations between Ukraine and Poland must remain warm.

"Whatever should appear to be the truth about those events, it should not hamper the current friendly relations between our two countries," explained President Kuchma.

In a move to foster better relations and more understanding, the two sides also agreed to a proposal put forward by President Kuchma that Ukraine and Poland imitate what he called the successful Russian-Ukrainian effort and develop a Year of Poland in Ukraine program to be held in 2004. Poland will respond with a Year of Ukraine in Poland program in 2005.

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