According to Politico, Brussels is set to strengthen its stance on issuing visas to Russian citizens, after years of pressure from member states along the EU's eastern border.
Points of attention
- National policies on issuing visas to Russians vary greatly within the EU, with some countries like Poland and the Baltics imposing tight restrictions while others like Spain and Italy being more lenient.
- The forthcoming pan-European strategy, expected to be released in December, will focus on enhancing visa requirements without setting binding rules.
What is known about the European Union's plan?
According to insiders, new recommendations for EU members, which are planned to be published at the end of 2025, will include recommendations for stricter restrictions on issuing visas to Russians and citizens of other hostile countries.
What is important to understand is that countries bordering Russia have been lobbying in Brussels for many years to adopt such recommendations, but now they consider them overdue.
The EU already terminated its visa facilitation agreement with Russia in September 2022 after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, making the visa application process more expensive and complicated.
According to experts, issuing visas remains the responsibility of individual member states.
First of all, the executive branch of the European Commission cannot impose a complete ban on Russians entering the bloc.
However, a key problem is that national policies vary greatly.
For example, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania block or severely restrict the issuance of visas to Russians, while Hungary, France, Spain, and Italy continue to issue visas to Russian citizens more liberally.
The upcoming pan-European strategy, which is scheduled to be released in December, will not set binding rules, but rather provide general recommendations, including stricter criteria for Russians entering EU countries, one of the insiders said.
