New Delhi: The proposal to ban Schengen visas for Russia was put forward to the EU for discussion and Berlin took note of that, official spokesman of the German Cabinet Steffen Hebestreit said at the briefing on Wednesday.
“The draft was put forward by certain countries in the EU and is thereby on the agenda. The German government should now discuss it among Cabinet members and inside the EU. These discussions are not completed and therefore I cannot tell you about interim results,” Hebestreit said. “I request to have patience,” the spokesman noted.
“The German government took note of such proposal at the EU level,” he added, without giving further comments.
This proposal could be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of EU foreign ministers in late August in Prague, spokesperson of the German Foreign Ministry Andrea Sasse noted in its turn. She did not detail Berlin’s position on this issue.
In 2020, the EU was Russia’s first trade partner, accounting for 37.3% of the country’s total trade in goods with the world. 36.5% of Russia’s imports came from the EU and 37.9% of its exports went to the EU. In 2021, the total trade in goods between the EU and Russia amounted to €257.5 billion.
(Vinayak)