Among the aid measures for Ukraine adopted by the European Commission yesterday (5 March) was the acceleration of an action plan on visa liberalisation and the offer of a mobility partnership. But José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, did not mention either in his presentation of the aid package.

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Did he not deem them important enough, or was he afraid that the Commission would not be able to deliver the member states, whose approval is needed before Ukrainians are allowed to travel to the EU with less hassle?

The cumbersome procedure to obtain a Schengen-area visa has been a repeated complaint of Ukrainian businessmen, students and visitors for many years. A visa- facilitation agreement with Ukraine has been in place since January 2008; changes introducing further streamlining and applying to additional categories of applicants took effect last July.

But Ukrainians regularly complain that the visa-facilitation provisions are being implemented unevenly by member states’ consulates in Ukraine. Meanwhile, visa liberalisation – the lifting of visa requirements for short-term visitors – is a distant prospect that has, if anything, even more receded with the latest turmoil.

The second migration element in the aid package, a mobility partnership, could be useful in co-ordinating policies to do with migration between the EU and Ukraine, but its practical impact for ordinary Ukrainians is probably very limited.