This Report presents an analysis of the changes that have occurred during the last few years in the visa procedures followed by a selected group of surveyed EU Member State consulates. The report and the analysis of changes in the visa procedures followed are based on the results of two surveys. The first was carried out in 2005, and the second, during the second half of 2008.
The changes that can be observed in the last few years in the visa procedures followed may be attributed to a number of factors. First, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine have concluded with the EU a Visa Facilitation Agreement. Secondly, new Member States have joined the Schengen Area. These exacerbated the situation of those applying at consulates of the CEEC Member States surveyed: the number of visas issued has dropped significantly in 2008, as compared to 2007, for example, by 60% and 73% in the case of Polish consulates in Ukraine and Belarus, respectively. On the other hand, the situation at older Member State consulates seems to have improved little relative to 2005.
The EU is perceived by citizens of Eastern European countries in the light of its visa policy towards them. For most of the applicants, a meeting with a consular officer constitutes their first ever opportunity to come into direct contact with those representing the EU. For many, a visa policy is also a sort of a ”litmus test” of the real goals and objectives the EU is pursuing vis-à-vis its partners from the East. Contrary to its friendly declarations, the real development of EU Eastern policy can not be truly envisaged without the facilitation of people-to-people contacts between EU Member States and their neighbouring countries.
Though the EU Member States have jointly decided that in the long-term they will liberalise visas for citizens of Eastern Partnership countries (i.e. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine ), as well as of Russia, it remains to be seen whether this decision will find its expression in concrete measures. In the short-term, the Union ought to lift all the visa fees for citizens of the neighbouring countries and ensure the better operation of the existing visa facilitation agreements.
This Report has been drawn up within the framework of the Friendly EU Border Project, carried out by the Stefan Batory Foundation since 2002. The necessary surveys were conducted in cooperation with four NGOs from Eastern Europe: the Institute for Public Policy (Moldova), the Carnegie Moscow Center (Russia), the Centre for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine, and the Centre for Social Innovations from Belarus.
