The European Commission will offer recommendations on visas already issued to Russian tourists

EU foreign ministers instructed the European Commission to prepare recommendations on what to do with visas already issued to Russian tourists, EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said. transmits RIA Novosti agency.

“During the debate, fears were expressed not only about the issuance of new visas, but also about the millions of existing visas. There was a consensus that this should also be discussed. This situation also needs a common approach. Therefore, we agreed to instruct the European Commission to consider this complex situation and prepare recommendations,” he said.

Today in Prague, at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, the main issue for discussion was the issue of restrictions on the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian citizens. Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia bordering on Russia demanded that the European Commission tighten its visa policy towards Russia. At the same time, a number of countries, including Germany and Hungary, did not support a complete ban on issuing visas to Russians.

As a result of the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, already announced that the foreign ministers of the EU countries could not agree on a ban on visas for Russian citizens, but by a majority of votes a decision was made to cancel the simplified procedure for issuing visas. In particular, the suspension of this regime involves an increase in the visa fee from 35 to 80 euros, as well as an increase in the processing time for documents and a reduction in the number of multiple entry visas. At the same time, German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock suggested that in the future, Russians will have to wait for months to apply for a visa, transmits German newspaper Spiegel.

Portuguese Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho noted that the countries bordering Russia will be able to obtain permission to independently regulate the entry of Russians into their territory. Borrell noted that since mid-July, these countries have seen a serious influx of Russian citizens, which creates “security threats” for these countries. It is specified that since the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine on February 24, about 1 million Russians have entered the EU, of which two-thirds have crossed the border with Finland and Estonia.

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