15:21 05.11.2021

Ukraine's exclusion from EU 'green list' is not abolition of visa-free travel, only applies to travel – MFA

3 min read
Ukraine's exclusion from EU 'green list' is not abolition of visa-free travel, only applies to travel – MFA

On November 5, the ambassadors of the EU member states prepared the decision of the EU Council to exclude Ukraine from the list of third countries whose citizens can make non-essential (tourist) travel to the EU, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (MFA) has said.

"It is important to understand that the EU temporary restrictions do not mean the abolition of visa-free travel and only apply to travel. The issue of open ('green') borders with the EU is regulated by the EU Council Recommendation on the temporary restriction on non-essential travel into the EU. The EU regularly updates the 'Green list' and, if improved epidemic situation, decides to return a country to such a list," the MFA said on the website on Friday.

This decision was made taking into account the current epidemic situation in Ukraine and the general deterioration of the situation in Europe.

The EU Council is expected to make a formal recommendation next week. However, the final decision on the conditions for the implementation of non-essential (tourist) travel of citizens of Ukraine is made by the EU member states at the national level, the MFA said.

"Given the progress in vaccination campaigns around the world, the EU recently changed its approach to travel time limits and recommended that EU member states open borders to fully vaccinated travelers when passing border crossing tests," the ministry said.

When deciding to keep the country on the green list, the EU Council is guided by such criteria as no more than 75 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population over the past 14 days, a stable situation or a tendency towards a decrease in the number of new cases; at least 300 tests per 100,000 population, carried out in the past seven days; no more than 4% of positive results among all tests performed in the past seven days. The progress in vaccination of the population and the presence of especially dangerous strains of the virus are also taken into account.

The Foreign Ministry said that according to the estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of new cases in the EU countries over the past week increased by 6% (about 1.8 million new cases), and the death rate by 12%.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine calls on Ukrainian citizens to be actively vaccinated and continue to conscientiously comply with anti-epidemic requirements in order to prevent further deterioration of the epidemic situation, which also affects freedom of movement," the ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry also recommended checking the current regime of entry and transit abroad on the interactive online map of the MFA: http://tripadvisor.mfa.gov.ua.

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