The EU has warned Ukraine it needs to finalise anti-corruption reforms to get a thumbs up for visa-free travel by the end of the year.

Speaking after talks with Ukraine PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Brussels on Monday (7 December), commissioner Johannes Hahn said “the fight against corruption was, is, and stays at the top of our joint priority list.”

With the commission due to file a recommendation to member states on 15 December on whether to grant the visa-free perks, he noted: “I’m pretty sure we’ll have a very positive report … but I don’t want to predict the final outcome.”

He said foreign firms also need progress on anti-corruption to invest money in Ukraine and warned Yatsenyuk against calling early elections next year because they would distract from reforms.

EU foreign relations chief Federica Mogherini said the fight against corruption is “key” to closer relations.

An EU source listed the outstanding reforms as: seeing the new “Anti-corruption Prosecutor” start work; seeing the “Anti-corruption Bureau” start work; seeing the new “Anti-corruption Prevention Agency,” which scrutinises politicians’ declarations of interest, start work; and tweaking two laws on confiscation of criminal assets.

The source said Ukraine has ticked “97 percent” of the boxes in the EU’s visa-free list.