MEP Gyöngyösi: Why it’s bad idea to make it harder for avarage Russian people to enter the EU

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MEP Márton Gyöngyösi’s (Non-attached) thoughts via press release:

By EU standards, the decision to suspend the visa agreement with Moscow was made fairly quickly. Of course, it wouldn’t be the European Union if the decision was not the result of a compromise, but even this half-hearted solution sets a fundamentally wrong direction in my opinion.

As we know, several EU member states have called for a blanket ban to prevent Russian citizens from obtaining Schengen visas, citing moral and security reasons for the measure. Unsurprisingly, the Hungarian foreign ministry’s input into the discussion was hardly more than parroting some likely Kremlin-devised communication panels, but this could be considered “business as usual” in Budapest nowadays. (By the way, instead of punishing average Russian citizens, perhaps it would be a better idea to consider sanctioning politicians who actually serve Russian interests, for example, the members of the current Hungarian government.)

Eventually, the blanket ban was not imposed due to the opposition of France and Germany, among others. The only measure they agreed on was to make it lengthier and more expensive for Russian citizens to obtain a Schengen visa.

Russia’s aggression is clearly unacceptable and it must have consequences, but I think making it harder for average Russian people to travel is a very bad message not just for the Russian nation but for ourselves, too.

As far as those Russian people are concerned who look favourably upon Europe, are interested in us and would in fact like to spend their money here (with good reason), here’s the message they get: we don’t want you and we don’t care about your sympathy. In all likelihood, this attitude will play into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is quite busy trying to convince Russians that Europe doesn’t like them and considers them as enemies. Furthermore, harder visa attainment will create a difficult situation for the Russian middle class, the exact same people who have so far been able to witness and tell how life is better in Europe. From now on, there will be fewer and fewer people to do so, which is a huge boost for Putin’s propaganda machine.

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This decision is also an extremely bad message for ourselves, because it’s in stark contrast with the values that we associate with ourselves and Europe. After this, we can’t say that the collective stigmatization of nations, or holding them universally accountable for the decisions made by some of their leaders belongs to the dark pages of 20th-century history, since we are just stigmatizing every Russian right now.

I firmly believe that if we want to find the enemy, we mustn’t look for them among the average Russian citizens: we can quite clearly see who the Russian leaders are, who are Putin’s regime operators benefiting from the war, who the responsible parties are and who will be held to account one day for the flagrant aggression against Ukraine.

As far as the average Russian people are concerned, the EU should be looking for friends among them and, as much as possible, show them that the world has a place where such things as the rule of law, the freedom of speech, political pluralism and welfare are all normal values you can rely on as long as you share them.

Disclaimer: the sole liability for the opinions stated rests with the author(s). These opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Parliament.