EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych will score a diplomatic victory on visa-free travel at a summit in Brussels on Monday (22 November). But his opponents say he is taking the country backwards in terms of democracy and good governance.

ANDREW RETTMAN | Euobserver.com

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in a communique on Friday said: "I am pleased that we are able to announce an Action Plan towards the establishment of a visa-free regime for Ukraine."

The plan, a list of specific conditions that Kiev must fulfill before the EU opens a door in its immigration wall, will look to "establishing a visa free regime for short stay travel as a long term perspective," the Barroso statement added.

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Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych will score a diplomatic victory on visa-free travel at a summit in Brussels on Monday (22 November). But his opponents say he is taking the country backwards in terms of democracy and good governance.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in a communique on Friday said: "I am pleased that we are able to announce an Action Plan towards the establishment of a visa-free regime for Ukraine."

The plan, a list of specific conditions that Kiev must fulfill before the EU opens a door in its immigration wall, will look to "establishing a visa free regime for short stay travel as a long term perspective," the Barroso statement added.

Ukraine itself dropped visa requirements for EU citizens when it hosted the Eurovision song contest in 2005 and hopes to fulfill EU conditions in time for the Euro 2012 football championship finals in Kiev. It has a long way to go, however.

The Monday summit will see Mr Yanukovych get the red carpet treatment at the Val Duchesse priory on the outskirts of Brussels. He will bring with him Ukrainian foreign minister Konstantyn Gryshchenko, a career diplomat who worked his way up in the Soviet foreign ministry in the 1980s.

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