Leonid Bershidsky, Columnist

Europe's Short-Term Visas Target the Wrong Countries

Turks, Chinese and Russians hardly ever overstay their visas. Let more of them see what open societies look like.

May 26, 2016 at 5:10 PM UTC

Leonid Bershidsky, formerly Bloomberg Opinion’s Europe columnist, is a member of the Bloomberg News Automation Team. He recently published Russian translations of George Orwell’s “1984” and Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”

Let them in.
Photographer: Kayhan Ozer/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

The spat between the European Union and Turkey over visa-free travel is heating up. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is demanding the abolition of visas for his citizens, or else he'll renege on a deal that has reduced the flood of refugees to the EU to a trickle. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Erdogan that won't get him anywhere.

This public fight is futile. Europe could safely cancel visas for Turkey and many other countries: The benefits would far outweigh the costs.