EU promises «very positive report» on Ukraine's visa-free ambitions

Brussels (dpa) - The European Union is set to issue a "very positive report" on Ukraine‘s progress towards achieving visa-free access to the bloc, a top official said Monday, fuelling hopes in Kiev that it will be granted the long-sought advantage next week.The offer to remove visa requirements for short-term visits to the bloc has been used as an incentive by the EU to encourage reforms in its eastern neighbours.Moldova last year became the first of the six former Soviet states in the EU‘s Eastern Partnership programme to be granted visa-free access for its citizens to Europe‘s Schengen area for up to 90 days.Ukraine hopes to be next in line."Ukraine has complied with everything [that was] promised so we can enable this visa-free regime," Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Monday after talks with EU officials in Brussels. "We hope our European partners will have a positive decision ... on December 15."The European Commission, the EU‘s executive, is expected to issue reports on the visa liberalization progress made by Ukraine and Georgia on that day.The bloc‘s commissioner for neighbourhood relations, Johannes Hahn, said he was "pretty sure that we will have a very positive report" for Ukraine."But the final outcome I can‘t and I don‘t want to predict," he told journalists in Brussels.EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned that there are still efforts to be made by Ukraine, "notably on anti-corruption" work. But she also welcomed the "progress" made by Kiev so far."We know how much [visa liberalization] is important for all the Ukrainian people," she added.The country has been holding visa liberalization talks with the EU for more than seven years.