The European Parliament adopted by 251 votes to 75, with 36 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (Ukraine).
A proposal to reject the Council proposal, submitted by the EFDD group, was rejected in plenary by 85 votes to 520, with 23 abstentions.
The European Parliament adopted its position at first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure, taking over the Commission proposal.
This proposal seeks to amend Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 in order to allow Ukrainian nationals to be exempt from the requirement to hold a visa when travelling in EU Member States.
A recital stated that Ukraine has met all the benchmarks set out in the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan presented to the Ukrainian Government in November 2010, and therefore fulfils the relevant criteria for its citizens to be exempted from the visa requirement when travelling to the territory of Member States.
It is also stated that the continuous fulfilment by Ukraine of such criteria, especially on the fight against organised crime and corruption, will be duly monitored by the Commission.