Warsaw - Visa restrictions on Ukrainians, Belarussians and Russians traveling to Western Europe should be eased, announced the foreign ministers of Poland and Finland after a meeting in Warsaw on Monday. Easing the travel regulations would allow people from those countries more exposure to the liberal democracies of Western Europe, said Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski after meeting with his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb.
That way, people from those countries could see the benefits of democracy and open markets, said Sikorski.
Sikorski praised Finland for its backing of relaxed visa laws and called for more Eastern European countries to gain membership to the European Union, particularly Ukraine.
Ukraine and Belarus, along with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova, formed an Eastern Partnership with the EU last spring with the goal of supporting reforms in the region, forming association agreements in the area and creating a free trade zone.
