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20 September 2021, 15:31
On September 15-16, the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU visited Zakarpattya
On September 15, members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine’s
Integration into the EU visited checkpoints on Ukraine’s border with
neighbouring countries to find out what key and systemic issues need
Parliament’s intervention to be resolved. On September 16, the
Committee held a field meeting in Uzhhorod with the participation of
the EU Advisory Mission, representatives of the State Border Guard
Service, the State Customs Service and local authorities. The
participants of the meeting discussed the issues of capacity and
infrastructure of checkpoints, prevention of smuggling and corruption;
reforming the customs system in accordance with the EU norms, NCTS; use
of scanners to check the load.
Zakarpattya borders 4 countries - Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Romania. For more than a decade, no new checkpoints have been opened in the region. A significant number of checkpoints operate at the limit of design capacity or even exceeds it. Local authorities, the State Border Guard Service and the State Customs Service agree that the existing checkpoints need to be upgraded, modern information technologies have to be installed to reduce the time of customs and border procedures, increase security, improve comfort for citizens crossing the border and help Ukrainian and European businesses.
Although local and central authorities are constantly announcing large-scale construction plans, since 2010 only two checkpoints have been built and both entirely on Polish territory. According to the study «Roadmap of Solutions. Contemporary Problems of the Schengen Border of Ukraine», conducted by the NGO Europe without Barriers in 2021, a number of projects with international funding were frozen or implemented very slowly.
Joint border control with neighbours for years remains an unresolved issue. Joint control, or rather consistent control in a common place, operates only on the Ukrainian-Polish border at 4 road checkpoints. However, the Joint Control Agreement with Poland was adopted in 2002, before Poland's accession to the European Union, and now it also needs to be renewed. Negotiations and joint control agreements are still ongoing with Hungary and Slovakia. A dialogue on joint control with Romania has not even started. The key problem, which slows down the process, is an incompatibility of Schengen and Ukrainian legislation. The Schengen Border Code interprets the territory of a common checkpoint as a place where only the laws and regulations of an EU member state apply, even if the checkpoint is located on the territory of Ukraine. According to the EU norms, a citizen of Ukraine, detained at a joint checkpoint by the Ukrainian party, should be handed over to the EU party, which contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine. It is necessary to coordinate the draft Agreements on joint control with the Schengen Code, in particular, in the part on detention of offenders.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU, stressed that Ukraine should bring this strategic issue to the level of negotiations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hold consultations with neighbouring countries and the European Commission.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze also appealed to the Zakarpattya Regional State Administration and local communities to hold talks with landowners near the entrance to the checkpoints in order to finally find a way to transfer these plots to the state. Only this way it will be possible to equip full-fledged service areas near the checkpoints and make border crossing comfortable for citizens and businesses.
The Chair of the Committee also stressed the importance of prioritizing those issues that need to be resolved jointly with the EU. Such as the issue of early response and exchange of information. «This should be included in our plan to update the Association Agreement with the European Union and the relevant annexes. Not only Ukraine, but also the European Union, with the involvement of the European Commission, should work with the EU member states to jointly resolve these issues», — Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze stressed.
Zakarpattya borders 4 countries - Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Romania. For more than a decade, no new checkpoints have been opened in the region. A significant number of checkpoints operate at the limit of design capacity or even exceeds it. Local authorities, the State Border Guard Service and the State Customs Service agree that the existing checkpoints need to be upgraded, modern information technologies have to be installed to reduce the time of customs and border procedures, increase security, improve comfort for citizens crossing the border and help Ukrainian and European businesses.
Although local and central authorities are constantly announcing large-scale construction plans, since 2010 only two checkpoints have been built and both entirely on Polish territory. According to the study «Roadmap of Solutions. Contemporary Problems of the Schengen Border of Ukraine», conducted by the NGO Europe without Barriers in 2021, a number of projects with international funding were frozen or implemented very slowly.
Joint border control with neighbours for years remains an unresolved issue. Joint control, or rather consistent control in a common place, operates only on the Ukrainian-Polish border at 4 road checkpoints. However, the Joint Control Agreement with Poland was adopted in 2002, before Poland's accession to the European Union, and now it also needs to be renewed. Negotiations and joint control agreements are still ongoing with Hungary and Slovakia. A dialogue on joint control with Romania has not even started. The key problem, which slows down the process, is an incompatibility of Schengen and Ukrainian legislation. The Schengen Border Code interprets the territory of a common checkpoint as a place where only the laws and regulations of an EU member state apply, even if the checkpoint is located on the territory of Ukraine. According to the EU norms, a citizen of Ukraine, detained at a joint checkpoint by the Ukrainian party, should be handed over to the EU party, which contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine. It is necessary to coordinate the draft Agreements on joint control with the Schengen Code, in particular, in the part on detention of offenders.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU, stressed that Ukraine should bring this strategic issue to the level of negotiations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hold consultations with neighbouring countries and the European Commission.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze also appealed to the Zakarpattya Regional State Administration and local communities to hold talks with landowners near the entrance to the checkpoints in order to finally find a way to transfer these plots to the state. Only this way it will be possible to equip full-fledged service areas near the checkpoints and make border crossing comfortable for citizens and businesses.
The Chair of the Committee also stressed the importance of prioritizing those issues that need to be resolved jointly with the EU. Such as the issue of early response and exchange of information. «This should be included in our plan to update the Association Agreement with the European Union and the relevant annexes. Not only Ukraine, but also the European Union, with the involvement of the European Commission, should work with the EU member states to jointly resolve these issues», — Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze stressed.