As expected, the subject of the movement of Russian tourists in the European Union (EU) gave rise, Tuesday, August 30 in Prague, to a fierce debate between the foreign ministers of the Member States.
The Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, wants to suspend the 2007 agreement which facilitated visa applications for Russian tourists, and other states have even called for an outright visa ban.
“There is no place for tourism”Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told reporters, adding that this measure “would send a signal to the elite of Moscow and St. Petersburg”now free to travel.
But other states, such as Hungary, Luxembourg or Austria, protested against this measure. “I don’t think the visa ban is an appropriate decision in the current circumstances”said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, whose country has retained close ties with the Kremlin.
No “new iron curtain in Europe”
Luxembourg Minister Jean Asselborn also protested against a measure affecting ordinary Russians. “We must not have a new iron curtain in Europehe pointed out. We all agreed from the start that it was about war [du président russe Vladimir] Cheese fries. »
His French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, offered to “distinguish between warmongers, first and foremost the Russian president, his entourage and all those who support his war effort, and Russian citizens, artists, students, journalists for example”.
“And those, we wish, and we must, continue to have ties with them”added M.me Colonna, recalling that the Russian oligarchs, under individual sanctions, will not come “do their shopping neither in France nor in Europe”.
Their Austrian colleague, Alexander Schallenberg, for his part felt that the EU should not “pass a categorical judgment on 140 million people” in Russia.
The German Compromise
The Czech Republic stopped issuing visas to Russians, with few exceptions, on February 25, a day after Russia invaded Ukraine. Russia’s neighbors – Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – have urged Brussels to ban issuing Russian tourists Schengen visas.
According to Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu, it is time to target ordinary Russians, after the suspension of the granting of visas to official delegations and Russian business leaders.
“These silent private people should also understand that there are consequences to war”did he declare. “What is literally being paid for with their tax money is the bombs that now, literally, right now, are killing Ukrainian children and bombing (…) hospitals, kindergartens, schools ».
The German government proposed a compromise on Tuesday. “It can be a very good way to make it clear that we are suspending visa facilitation agreements, that we are no longer issuing multiple visas or multi-year visas”declared the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, who wants “bringing together different points of view” within the EU to find a common European solution.