The European Commission said both countries had carried out the reforms they promised to enact to win Brussels’ backing and they planned to make the formal legal recommendation in early 2016.
It will then be up for approval by EU governments and the European Parliament.
Earlier this month, Joachim Herrmann, the Minister of the Interior of the German federal state of Bavaria, said that the German authorities should not introduce a visa-free regime for citizens of Georgia and Ukraine in order to avoid the same mistakes that were made with the countries of the Western Balkans.
“Instead of repeating the mistakes of the abolition of the visa regime with the countries of the Western Balkans, Europe needs to take serious care of the security of the European borders,” he said.
Peter Kleppe, the head of the Brussels branch of the Open Europe think tank, described the European Commission’s move as premature.
“The idea [of granting a visa-free regime to Ukraine] is not unconditionally endorsed either by the European public or even by the governments of the EU countries,” he said.
