When the visa-free regime between Russia and the European Union will be carried into effect?

The deputy head of the general secretariat of the European questions (France) at the prime minister of France Emmanuel Barb has acted at a seminar of the Moscow school of political researches with the message “the Schengen zone: successes and errors”. He has told about how the Schengen zone develops today. What problems are and he has separately stopped on a problem of introduction of a visa-free regime between Russia and the European Union:

- Schengen is very actual problem in Europe today. Here they speak not only about euro, but also about questions of Schengen too because right now there is some crisis. By the way, Schengen is simple a village in Luxembourg where the borders of three countries converge: France, Germany and Belgium. It is the surprising place and the wine is remarkable there … But this place has named a zone of the free reference where there are 26 states and about 420 million persons. And when finally the zone will include Bulgaria and Romania there will be already 450 million persons.

On June 14, 1985 five states: France, Germany and three Benelux countries, have signed the first agreement. In the beginning it was purely economic community and the control on borders has been abolished only in 1995 in reality. Today the entry into Schengen is a political and very serious act. Now we enter the system which allows to secure the issue of visa. It is connected with a biometry. The agency on external borders is created, the system thanks to which it will be possible to know how many people are at present in the territory of the European union will be soon introduced. There are also other systems, there is a term “clever borders” as all data will be fixed at border crossing. And the rules should be very accurate.

If to speak about the crisis of Schengen, so we can allocate four moments. Firstly, a situation in Greece.80 of % of illegal migrants in the European Union have passed the border namely in Greece. Greece tries to do something but while changes nothing.
Secondly, the question of the introduction of Bulgaria and Romania in a zone of free movement. While they aren't absolutely ready for this absolutely. In the sense of legal state…

Thirdly, the Arabian spring. The European Union is glad to democratization, of course, but much worries from the point of migrants’ view. Since February they get to Europe through island Lampedusa in the south of Sicily. Terrible pressure has begun there! As to return movement of illegal migrants, so Tunis accepted … four persons per day! Italy gave out the documents for a trip to France and Denmark has entered the customs control on border - that is the abuse of rules of Schengen! It is necessary the new mechanisms for situation tracing on borders.

At last, we need to strengthen our system: it shouldn't be under construction only on trust, but also on control and professionalism. I think that we will find the decision.
As to the rules of visa issue, everything concerns entirely the competence of the European Union. All the same, there is some field for maneuver in this rule. The French government very openly concerns the Russian Federation. And we have begun the movement on liberalization that there would be no visa if the person enters France less than for three months. France tries to use the possibilities of the European Union to facilitate the issue of visas to the Russian citizens. For today there is a process which is already started in order to approach to a visa-free regime between the Schengen territory and the Russian Federation.

That problem is difficult enough as we have criteria to cancel visas. It is variety of political blocks – we will tell, a question of some documents that we precisely know that they are not false. These are the problems of safety, the information interchange problem between polices.

Visas are, actually, the protection against what?! From illegal migrants, from those people who come and then don't leave. Or there are criminal risks – that is, the criminals and malefactors shouldn't get on our territory. Also there are the rules which need to be observed.

There is one more problem with your country – as I has understood that this question is difficult and historical – a registration question. When you get to the Schengen zone, so you can go practically where you want without this registration. And everything is in another way in the Russian Federation: registration is very stable practice there … It is connected with other politics, therefore we can't admit, of course, any liberalization differently as in a mutual regime. And such points should be removed from the agenda gradually.
The negotiations between the European Union and the Russian Federation are now carried on. What do we want to make?! To remove the variety of barriers, namely the registration, in particular. And when they will be removed, then it would be possible to discuss the contract on cancellation of visas. I can't tell anything about the terms because sometimes there are problems from the Russian side, sometimes – from European side …

But I hope that in three-four years it will be a reality. I should tell absolutely officially that France absolutely “FOR” and it has supported this movement in every possible way.