The Baltic countries and Finland have asked for an agreed decision by the European Union on a total ban on issuing visas to Russians, while Germany and France are against it.
After a long discussion, the EU did not dare to completely ban Russians from entering the countries of the union because of the war unleashed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The European Union will only suspend the 2007 agreement with Russia that simplifies the issuance of visas, but there will not be a complete ban, as there is no unanimous opinion among the EU countries on this issue.
What does this mean
“This will significantly reduce the number of new visas issued by EU countries. It will be more difficult, take longer,” commented EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell on the decision.
The abolition of the simplified regime means that Russian citizens will pay 80 euros instead of 35 euros for EU visas, and the issuance procedure will be longer, requiring more documents from those applying for a visa, and visa validity periods may be reduced.
The split of Europe
The Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, stopped issuing ordinary visas to Russians in June and insisted on a visa ban for Russian tourists across the EU. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky urged not only to include the suspension of tourist visas in the eighth package of sanctions against Russia, but also not to let Russians with valid tourist visas. The same idea was promoted first among all the Baltic countries, with Finland in solidarity with them. Finnish authorities in August reduced by 10 times the number of tourist visas issued to Russians against the backdrop of calls from some EU countries to completely stop issuing tourist visas.
Germany and several other EU members, including European Commissioner Borrell, opposed such a move, arguing that it could violate EU rules and cut off routes from Russia for the authorities’ opponents.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock on the eve spoke in favor of stopping the issuance of multiple-entry and multi-year visas to Russian citizens. At the same time, he stressed that it was important for him and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz not to deny those “who have the courage to oppose the regime” to leave Russia. According to him, it can be not only oppositionists and journalists, but also students.
Lima Union
Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are demanding that the European Commission propose “appropriate visa measures” that would “significantly reduce the flow of Russian citizens to the European Union and the Schengen area.”
“Until such measures are introduced at the EU level, we will consider establishing temporary measures at the national level to address the unavoidable public safety concerns associated with the increased flow of Russian citizens to our boundaries,” they said.
“It is our national competence, in accordance with the principle of national security, to decide on issues of entry into our territory,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu.
close 700 thousand Russians entered these five countries since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began at the end of February. Most of them are tourists who use the border countries as a gateway for holiday trips to Western EU countries.
“We believe this could be a serious threat to public safety,” the five countries said in a joint statement, which also emphasized the need to maintain “exceptions for dissidents as well as other humanitarian cases.”
“We must continue to support the opponents of the Putin regime and give them the opportunity to leave Russia,” the statement said.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.