← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Polish Noble
Thread ID: 9531 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-09-04
2003-09-04 19:39 | User Profile
Maneuvers on Sea and Land Valery Masterov The Russian and Polish presidents discuss the visa issue to the cannonade of Baltic and Northern Fleet guns
[img]http://www.mn.ru/2003/e25/3-1.jpg[/img]
The meeting between Putin and Kwasniewski took place aboard the Marshal Ustinov missile cruiser in the Baltic Sea, in the course of a joint Baltic and Northern Fleet exercise. At the end of the exercise Kwasniewski expressed satisfaction at the absence of casualties. True, there may be losses yet - not military, but visa losses. The only question is how much time and money visa-seekers will have to spend. When, at a recent Russia-EU summit in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Putin spoke in favor of an early introduction of visa-free travel between Russia and the EU, my Polish colleagues at first thought that they had not got it right. After all, while the Russian side dreams about free trips across Europe, the last non-visa outlets, inherited from the Soviet era, are being closed, in particular the Polish one. Warsaw is about to introduce visas. The date for this far-from-happy event has long been agreed with Brussels: July 1, 2003.
True, even now (for the third time) Poland has put off the introduction of visas for her eastern neighbors until October 1. The formal cause is the postponement of the EU enlargement from January 1 to May 1, 2004. The real cause is that the sides are not ready yet, i.e. do not have sufficient consular capacity. Even so, all the indications are that this date is final. Further delays will be seen as Poland's defiance of the EU demand to shut down the eastern border.
The negative fallout from the visa regime for the Russians amid the free movement of people in "mainland Europe" is quite predictable. The Poles are afraid of an emotional outburst on the Russian side. So Kwasniewski could not but sigh with relief when Putin said that the Russian side apparently "is delighted with the Polish president's position, still unknown to the broad public, on visa-free travel for citizens of a wider Europe, including the Russian Federation: It is by far the most liberal, and in the spirit of the times."
Kwasniewski spelled out his "liberal position": "The borders should exist for crime, terrorism and drug trafficking, not for honest people." This sounds nice, but not very reassuring: The fact is that every year the Polish border is crossed by nearly five million Poles and 21 million foreigners, most of them Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. How will the visa regime affect this tide?
Ukraine proved to be the most far-sighted negotiator. Kiev retains free entry for Polish citizens, in exchange for which Warsaw will introduce free visas for Ukrainians. The Polish authorities hoped that Minsk would also accept the "Ukrainian option," but Lukashenko turned it down. Meanwhile, according to the latest census, there are about 400,000 ethnic Poles living in Belarus (some Polish sources put the number at one million). In the estimate of the Belarusian Embassy in Warsaw, Polish consular offices in Minsk, Grodno, and Brest will have to issue at least 100,000 visas. Meanwhile, the Belarusian authorities decided there will be no freebies for the Poles and therefore none for their own citizens. As a result, a single-entry visa will cost 10 euros and a multiple-entry visa, 50 euros.
Poland is also having strained visa negotiations with Russia. Free visas for children, OAPs, and residents of the Kaliningrad region are being considered. According to information in our possession, the main disagreements are over the cost. Poland is proposing acceptable rates which do not exceed the European level. Meanwhile, as a Polish Foreign Ministry official pointed out, Russia currently charges $35 for single-entry visa and $120 for a multiple visa, thus ignoring the principle of reciprocity that it so strongly upholds in its negotiations with the EU. The consequences will not be slow in coming. Putin and Kwasniewski said that all details are to be finalized by Russian and Polish Foreign Ministry working groups in July.