The European Parliament on April 5 will discuss the visa-free travel for Ukrainians and hold vote on the next day, BBC Ukraine reported on Friday, 17 March.
Experts do not expect any problems with the approval of visa-free travel.
Upon the European Parliament's votes, the decision will be agreed by EU ambassadors, and then the EU Council will finally approve the legislative initiative in mid-May. After that, the document will be signed and published in the official EU journal. Visa-free waiver will become effective in 20 days after the publication.
BBC says this decision will hardly be taken before the presidential elections in France on May 7. The French fear that the provision of visa-free travel to Ukraine ahead of the elections can give additional arguments to the far right.
The negotiations on visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens have been going on since 2008. The EU has recognized that Ukraine had successfully fulfilled all 144 obligations within the framework of the visa dialogue.
On 2 February, the European Parliament abolished visas for the citizens of Georgia. Initially, Ukraine and Georgia were supposed to get visa-free regime together, but later this process was split.
On February 28, the EU held trilateral talks between the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the visa waiver for Ukraine. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pledged that the EU will approve the visa waiver for Ukraine before the summer of 2017.