EU reaches ‘political agreement’ on Russians’ visas
The European Union has reached what has been described as a political compromise regarding the issue as to whether Russian individuals should be granted travel visas into the EU – a move supported by some Member States but opposed to other.
In a 31 August statement following a meeting of EU foreign ministers, High Representative Josep Borrell said that a ‘political agreement’ had been reached under which, firstly, there would be a ‘full suspension’ of the ‘European Union-Russia Visa Facilitation Agreement’. This, he said, would ‘significantly reduce the number of new visas issued by the EU Member States,’ and that the process would be become ‘more difficult [and] longer. And consequently, the number of new visas will be substantially reduced.’
He added, ‘This is a common approach, and a common approach will prevent a potential “visa shopping” by Russians – going here and there, trying to look for the better conditions.’
But, he said, ‘There is a common understanding that this will allow for visas to be granted on an individual basis [after] a thorough assessment of each individual case, and especially for specific groups of people. We do not want to cut ourselves from those Russians who are against the war in Ukraine. We do not want to cut ourselves from the Russian civil society.’
It was also agreed that ‘passports issued by the Russian authorities in occupied territories of Ukraine will not be recognised.’
Borrell said the difficult issue as to what to do about ‘the stock of millions of existing visas’ was complex and is being ‘looked into’ by the European Commission.
