The bloc cannot compel members to deny visas to tourists from specific countries, the top migration official said
The EU cannot force all member states to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said on Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen, Brunner was asked about reports of a possible EU-wide tourist visa ban for Russians.
“Visa is the competence of the member states, so there is no possibility for the EU to ever have a complete ban on that,” he said, adding, “We see some member states where the numbers are going up a bit, and that worries us.”
Several EU countries tightened or suspended visa procedures for Russian nationals after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Slovakia resumed issuing Schengen visas earlier this year, after previously restricting them to Russians with family ties, work needs, or diplomatic status. Holders of Schengen visas can travel across all 27 EU members.
Slovakia, along with Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, had halted tourist visas for Russians in 2022.
Current EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, then Estonia’s foreign minister, urged a bloc-wide ban that year, writing on X, “Stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. Visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right.”
According to the European Commission, Russian nationals filed more than 606,000 Schengen visa applications in 2024, up from about 520,000 in 2023, with roughly 7.5% rejected.
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