Wednesday, August 31, 2022

Spineless EU

EU Fails To Agree On Travel Ban For Russians As Leaders Chafe Over Bloc's 'Unanimity Rule'

A European Union meeting of foreign and defense ministers this week has failed to agree on a bloc-wide visa ban for Russians, after Poland, Finland, as well as Baltic countries pushed for a blanket ban on all entrances for Russian nationals - whether for tourism or business. Ukraine's President Zelensky has been lobbying European capitals to move through with the ban, even if just on individual country levels. 

Proponents cast allowance of Russian travel within the EU as some kind of reward: "There must be more restrictions on travel for Russian citizens," Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said. "We cannot simply give bonuses to people which are supporting such presidents as Putin," he told reporters in Prague, where the EU meeting is taking place. But coming out of Wednesday's meeting Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was the first to announce that the policy measure has failed to gain necessary unity, after those who opposed were led chiefly by Hungary and Germany. EU leaders did still, however, tried to spin this as a "win":

  • EU'S BORRELL: EU MEMBERS POLITICALLY AGREE TO FULLY SUSPEND FACILITATION AGREEMENT FOR RUSSIAN VISAS
  • EU WON'T RECOGNIZE PASSPORTS ISSUED BY RUSSIA IN OCCUPIED AREAS

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