The European Union must not prevent Russian tourists from visiting the bloc, Germany and France said ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers in Prague.
This meeting will discuss the request of the Baltic countries and some other members to introduce a ban on issuing visas to Russians.
–Â While understanding the concerns of some members in this context, we should not underestimate the transformative power of experiencing life in democratic systems first-hand, especially for future generations – it is stated in the Franco-German document, which Reuters had access to today.
“We caution against far-reaching restrictions on our visa policy, in order to prevent feeding the Russian narrative and trigger unintended rallying-around the flag effects and/or estranging future generations,” France and Germany said in a joint memo seen by Reuters .
The press release states that EU visa policy should reflect exactly that and enable contact between people in the EU and Russian citizens who are not connected to the Russian Government.
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Later today, the EU’s foreign affairs ministers are meeting as part of a two-day meeting in Prague.
