Lviv lawmakers push for another Polish consulate in Western Ukraine

March20200814:19

Addressing the March 20 session of the Lviv oblast council, lawmakers belonging to parties Svoboda, Pora, Ukrainian People’s Party and Reforms and Order protested the free-for-all atmosphere at the Polish consulate general in Lviv. They appealed to the president and government to open another consulate in one of Western Ukraine oblast capitals to facilitate visa-issuance procedures, ZIK reports. -

The lawmakers demanded that the foreign ministries of Ukraine and Poland normalize visa issuance in Lviv. They also demanded that head of Lviv police Gen. Vasyl Pisny deal with crooks who offer Ukrainians to get their visas quickly for a kick-back. Following its accession to the EU, Poland has repeatedly made declarations about its plans to introduce free travel with Ukraine, but has not acted on its words, lawmaker Vasyl Pavliuk stressed.

At the doors of the consulate, shady persons offer Ukrainians to get their visas quickly – “for a couple of hundreds of euros.” Thousands of Ukrainns have been storming the Polish consulate for a week. But the Polish officials are flouting the rights of Ukrainians. They must abide by the European democracy standards in dealing with the situation at the border. The Lviv council wants this humiliation of the dignity of Ukrainians stopped, the deputies said.