This was reported by the Financial Times with reference to three officials who are familiar with the course of negotiations on the topic. Ministers plan to provide political support to suspend the agreement at a two -day meeting in Prague, which will start on August 30, on Tuesday, the interlocutors say. "It is unacceptable for Russian tourists to stroll our cities and embankments.
We must signal to the population of Russia that this war is unacceptable, unacceptable," said a high -ranking European official. Suspension of the simplified order of issuance of the visa will eliminate the preferential regime for Russians when applying for visa visa. They will need to take more documents, wait longer and pay more money for a visa, the newspaper said. One of the officials noted that the EU is in an exceptional situation that requires the same measures.
"We want to go further than the refusal of simplified visa issuance. Deep changes can be made by the end of the year," he said in a conversation with Financial Times. There is no consensus on additional measures about the number of visas issued to the Russians, the complete cessation of their issuance or the prohibition of Belarus, in Brussels yet. The EU and EU visa -issued agreement was concluded in 2007.
If it is suspended, the Russians will provide more documents for a Schengen visa, applications will be considered longer. The consular fee for its design will increase from 35 to 80 euros. The Initiative of the compromise option belongs to the Czech Republic, writes Bloomberg. "Such a step will not be as radical as other EU members, including Estonia. This will still allow Russians and Belarusians to apply for short -term entry," the agency said.
European officials are waiting for a harsh debate in Prague, as Germany, Austria and southern EU countries depend on Russian tourists and resist. The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrel said that the ban on entry for all Russians to the European Union is a "not very good idea" because many Russian citizens want to leave the country. Baltic leaders have made it clear that at the regional level they could prohibit the issuance of Russian visas if the EU has no firm position on this issue.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda believes that all Russians are responsible for military invasion of Ukraine. "Today we are deceiving ourselves that this is Putin's war and the Russian people have nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, this is not the case, the Russian people support the war," he said. Recall that in the European Parliament approved the idea of ban on entry to the EU tourists from Russia.
The head of the European People's Party Manfred Weber hardly imagines a situation where Ukrainian refugees and Russians who enjoy their lives are in EU countries. Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Rinsal supported the maximum reduction in the list of grounds for issuing visas to the Russians. Sanctions should increase pressure on Russia so that the war in Ukraine stops.
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