... decision on a complete ban will not be made. It will be difficult to get consensus in the EU Council. However, in practice, we are very likely to see entry bans into the Union through some of the countries mentioned above and a reduction in the number of visas issued from the rest. Let's try to figure out what the EU and Russia will gain and lose from such a development.
Vadim Voinikov:
Legal and Political Aspects of EU’s Possible Visa Sanctions Against Russian Nationals
For the European Union, the benefits of visa restrictions are mainly symbolic. Visa sanctions are another measure that can be written down as an asset in containing Russia. They can be regarded as a signal that there will be no return to the conditionally pre-February ...
... make decisions on individual basis (Article 1). However, the states that have suspended issuance of visas do not deny visas, they do not accept visa applications. In other words, these states do not conduct activities with a view to issuing Schengen visas to Russians, and the European Union cannot force them to conduct such activities since this issue comes within the purview of national governments.
By stopping issuing visas to all Russian nationals, individual EU member states violate the principles of non-discrimination ...
The European Union Association Agreements with Georgia and Moldova came into force on July 1, 2016. The agreements envisage harmonizing the legislation to bring the Associated Members closer to the EU norms and requirements. But what does the European Union ...
... fundamental human right. Today we perceive the freedom of travel as a milestone achievement of contemporary Russia. However, our western partners keep denying Russian citizens who reside in Crimea their right to apply to their respective embassies for visas. Does either the United States or the European Union bear a grudge against these people? Are they in any way guilty because they chose to live in Russia, not in Ukraine? One can at least try to name a few reasons to impose sanctions against state officials, but how can the travel ban slapped ...
... within the competence of the member countries. The current situation in Greece is a vivid manifestation of this inherent flaw.
Something similar happened to the second project, Schengen. The Europeans had everything neatly planned — how to issue visas to those who live “on the other side of the fence,” how to take fingerprints and even how many hours a day a truck driver in the EU should spend at the wheel.
However, they hadn’t thought up anything concerning the issue of granting ...
... As a result, cooperation with the European Parliament becomes burdensome, tempting one to disregard it. At the same time, the European Union’s institutional structure makes it virtually impossible to ignore it, since the European Parliament is a ... ... approval of international agreements. For example, a final decision on the procedure for simplifying or revoking the need for visas is impossible if not passed by parliamentarians. The PCA was signed in 1994 but was approved by the European Parliament ...
... primarily for political reasons. A visa-free regime would call for closer cooperation, whereas Brussels is not yet prepared for such levels of openness and interaction due to its many objections to Russian foreign and domestic policy.
In addiiton, the European Union is unwilling to soften the visa regime for Russia’s neighbors, due to the belief that dropping visas for Russia while preserving them for countries within its geopolitical sphere of interest would
send the latter the wrong signal
.
Nevertheless, certain shifts have been taking place. Recently, Russia and the EU
have agreed on a roadmap on visa ...
... for such reunions – cooperation in power industry matters and drafting of a new EU-Russia Framework Agreement, were left to live in the shadow of the recent Russian parliamentary elections, the visa problem was significantly high on the agenda.
Visas as a Test to Brussels
The European Union has taken a very cautious stance as regards the visa issue. The EU is apprehensive about potential Russian migrants as well as unprotected Russian borders in the South.
So many statements are made on the issue that one might get an impression ...