EU eyes open borders with post-Soviet countries (Russia first)

[pampango]

http://euobserver.com/24/30055

The EU is likely to take a big step toward visa-free travel with Russia at an upcoming summit. But Poland wants to make sure that other post-Soviet countries, especially Ukraine, are also included. EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (10 May) raised the prospect of handing Russia a roadmap for visa-free travel at a regular summit to take place in Rostov-on-Don, near the Black Sea coast, on 31 May.

Finland's Alexander Stubb said after the meeting that Germany favours the idea. "For me the key issue of the summit is the visa issue," he told German press agency DPA. "There have been very positive movements: Germany has been a swing state."

The roadmap is a list of reforms that a country has to put in place to qualify for visa-free travel, such as introduction of biometric passports, adoption of laws on data protection and improvement of border security. It does not oblige the EU to drop visa requirements on a set date. But it does oblige the union to react if the target country meets the criteria.

Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski said the EU should not leave out in the cold the six post-Soviet countries in its Eastern Partnership scheme, however. The scheme covers Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
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Sounds like this isn't the "open borders" that exist within the EU. It's more "visa-free travel" like that Americans experience when they go to Europe.