The European Union should use a balanced approach when making a decision on banning the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th August, 2022) The European Union should use a balanced approach when making a decision on banning the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.
"This is an informal council, so no decision can be taken, but a clear political orientation I am sure will come from it. The positions are different; there are divergent positions, some members want a complete ban, others want just to work on the frame of the current visa facilitation ban. I can not advance a final result but I am sure that we will be able to look for a balanced approach to this problem," Borrell told journalists on the doorstep of an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Prague.
Calls have been mounting for the European Commission to ban Russian tourists from entering the EU's borderless area in response to the Russian special operation in Ukraine. In late July, Estonia proposed that Brussels block Russian citizens from entering Europe at the bloc level. Prior to that, the EU commission said that EU countries cannot completely stop issuing Schengen visas to Russian citizens, adding that member states could decide for themselves on the issuance of short-term Schengen visas and consider each application on an individual basis.
Some EU countries, including the Czech Republic, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland and the Netherlands, have already limited the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens. France and Germany have so far refused to back the initiative, though Berlin made a decision to suspend its travel agreement with Moscow.
