Translated material
Knots around visas
The European Union rejected Moscow's criticism that it was delaying the visa abolition process. European officials have found plenty of reasons to say: they shouldn’t count on the imminent birth of a visa-free regime.
The EU authorities have made it quite clear: there are technical problems, and the assessment of the Russian authorities, in their opinion, is incorrect. One of the complaints against Russia is migrants. The European Union seems to be afraid of the flow of workers with Russian passports. Other claims are related to corruption and partly relate to the point about migrants. And the European Union does not believe that the Russian side will eliminate all these problems in a year. In other words: the EU will not change its position even in a year, and Russians have nothing to count on for visa-free entry, just as EU citizens have nothing to expect that the difficult procedure for obtaining a Russian visa will be canceled for them.
There are a lot of political knots tied around the issue of visas, while the EU should be looking at the issue economically. A visa-free regime could help migration for work not only from Russia to the depressed European Union, but also from it towards the East. The persistent reluctance of the EU authorities to soften or eliminate the visa regime is probably also due to the fear of losing part of the army to an increasingly cheaper labor force. The strict visa regime in connection with tourism looks completely incomprehensible. The flow of domestic tourists is very large, and visas are an obstacle for it. They make holidays in Europe more expensive, which works for Turkey and other competitors.
EU officials do not want to talk about any deadlines, which indicates a principled position. For nationalists in any country, it seems extremely clear: they don’t want to let strangers into their little cozy world, so that they don’t spoil anything, especially their material well-being. But this is exactly what the European Union has serious problems with right now. The dynamics of economic indicators in many countries have been negative or close to negative for years.
Living standards in the eurozone are falling. In the south this process is going especially fast. Discounts before the New Year will ensure sales and, possibly, a temporary correction of statistics, but these will be compensatory sales. People postpone their expenses: they wait for big discounts, because without them it is expensive to buy. And Europeans are increasingly grumbling about expensive Chinese goods. Saving on products is also a fact. Moreover, they save money both on stores and on goods, for example, by denying themselves beef. All this exists in the north of the eurozone. But such frugality will gain strength only in 2013, when the crisis intensifies. And everyone lacks money. You can wear old clothes, but you can’t do the same with food. Against this background, it would seem that any visa or tax barriers for tourists are unreasonable and harmful.
The rating agency Standard & Poor's reached Greece in November. And again it lowered the rating, which, of course, the country’s government has long sought with its measures to “rescue” the economy. Now Hellas does not have a “junk” SSS level, but an SD level (“selective default”). Instead of writing off this annoying debt, the Greek authorities recently announced a buyout of its share for 10 billion euros. This is the demand of the troika (EU, ECB and Navy). The forecast can be made as follows: Hellas’ rating will be further reduced, unless a default occurs earlier (the “troika” may overdo it). But it’s not easy to say when the culprits of this whole story with “austerity” and the struggle to preserve the country’s deadly debt will end up in the dock. In the meantime, they are demonstrating their dark sense of humor, promising Hellas an economic recovery at the end of 2013. The situation of Spain and Portugal is little better. And this does not affect the authorities of the European Union.
Against the sad backdrop of a growing crisis, the European Union has again shown that the issue of abolishing visas with Russia is not being resolved through its fault. If EU officials had pointed out the difficulty of obtaining Russian visas for foreigners, they would have raised a problem that concerns ordinary Europeans. But the EU authorities cite completely different reasons for preventing the transition to a visa-free regime. They are not looking for agreements, but making demands.
Among other things, the European Union is dissatisfied with border protection in Russia and corruption. Moreover, European officials make it clear that they consider the issue of abolishing visas to be at the very beginning of a long decision. Apparently, they really left it there. To put it another way: the European Union will not cancel visas for Russians; the authorities are absolutely not interested in visa-free entry of their own citizens into Russia. And everyone will continue to buy visas from each other, which for some unknown reason is considered protection against the influx of migrants into the EU.
The European Union's justification for its decision seems standard, although the EU's borders are not impenetrable and officials are crystal clear. The EU authorities want to keep the issue of abolishing visas unresolved in order to put pressure on the Russian government. Even the benefits from attracting Russian tourists are not considered important. All this looks very strange if we remember the current situation of the economy of the eurozone and the European Union. But the knots around the visas remain in place.