Reuters: “EU unblocks visa-free travel for Ukraine, Georgia”

One of the most influential international media outlets, the Reuters, has today released an article, stressing the European Union will allow Ukrainians and Georgians to visit the bloc without a visa. 

The agency highlighted the prospect came after diplomats and lawmakers struck a deal on Thursday to end an internal EU dispute that had been holding up the plan.

Georgia, with only 3.7 million citizens, is seen as an easier case for the EU but has been held hostage by the greater hesitation over Ukraine, which has 45 million people, is geographically closer and is stuck in a conflict with Russia,” Reuters reported. 

Reuters read agreement on a mechanism for suspending such visa waivers in emergencies ends mounting embarrassment for some EU leaders "who felt the bloc was reneging on pledges to ex-Soviet states it has promised to help as they try to move away from Moscow's orbit.”

The media highlighted the prospect of easier travel to Europe has been used by governments in Kiev and Tbilisi to win popular backing for painful, EU-sponsored reforms.

Reuters wrote: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed "encouraging news from Brussels” and Mikheil Janelidze, the foreign minister of Georgia, said: "Georgia is Europe and it will become more and more tangible for our people.”

See the Reuters' article here.