WSJ: European Commission’s Report on Georgia to be Published on Friday

The Wall Street Journal claims that coming Friday the European Commission’s report on Georgia and Ukraine’s visa liberalization, of which the release was initially planned Monday, will be published.

According to WSJ, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and top European Union officials reached a tentative deal on Wednesday on Kiev’s bid to win visa-free access to the bloc, opening the way for Brussels to back the step as early as Friday, EU officials said.

“The European Union’s executive had been pressing Mr. Poroshenko to complete—or at least to pledge to complete soon—two key anticorruption measures before giving its backing to Kiev’s push for the EU to give Ukraine’s 40 million citizens to visit the bloc without a visa,” the WSJ cites.

After talks Wednesday evening between Mr. Poroshenko and several of the EU’s top officials, the two sides crafted a deal on moving ahead, two EU officials said. “The agreement will need to be signed off by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.”

“Under the plan, the EU will issue a report as early as Friday backing Ukraine’s request but making clear that the EU’s executive will only begin the legal work to enact that decision once Kiev delivers on its remaining commitments.”

The WSJ says the EU is likely publish similar reports on visa-free bids of Georgia and Kosovo on Friday. Both are expected to win Brussels’ broad support.

The European Commission’s report on Georgia was expected last Monday; however, Georgia’s Ambassador to the EU, Natalia Sabanadze, later confirmed the report for Georgia was postponed by a few days.