The EU-Russian visa agreement, which was signed and ratified last year, has given ordinary people both in Russia and the EU very little, Mr. Lax says. He believes that only the elite has benefited from the agreement. According to Mr. Lax, a deputy from Finland, there are two major changes coming up in the Schengen agreement. He confirms that the EU parliament proposes to abolish all issuing of single-entry visas, and rather issue only multi-entry visas. In addition, all diplomatic stations of EU countries will be entitled to issue visas to the whole Schengen zone. In other words, the Finnish consulate in Murmansk will for example be allowed to issue visas for Russians going to Spain or any other EU country. Mr. Lax spoke in a meeting with Russian politicians from the Kaliningrad Oblast this week. The MEP is also a member of the EU-Russia parliament delegation.
