L'The European Union is preparing to crack down on visas to combat irregular immigration. The ambassadors of the member states, meeting in Coreper, agreed on the Council's position on a draft regulation that updates a mechanism that allows the EU to suspend visa exemption, for those third countries whose citizens are exempt from the requirement visa when traveling to the Schengen area. The new law, once adopted, according to the Council “will strengthen EU tools to counter situations in which visa exemption is used abusively or goes against the interests of the EU”.
What changes
Under the updated mechanism, there will be new reasons for suspending the visa-free regime: first, the non-alignment of a visa-free third country with the EU visa policy, in cases where this may lead to an increase in arrives in the Union, for example due to geographical proximity.
Second, the existence of an investor citizenship program, whereby citizenship is granted without any real link to the third country concerned, in exchange for payments or investments.
Third, hybrid threats and deficiencies in legislation or procedures related to document security. Member States have decided to also include the possibility of suspending the visa-free regime in the event of a significant and sudden deterioration in the EU's external relations with a third country, in particular in the field of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The reasons that are already foreseen today remain, namely a substantial increase in the number of third country citizens who are refused entry or who overstay their stay; a substantial increase in the number of unfounded asylum applications by citizens of a third country for which the recognition rate is low; a decrease in cooperation with the EU on the readmission of persons asked to leave EU territory and an imminent risk or threat to public order or internal security (e.g. due to an increase in crime penalties).
The Council's negotiating mandate specifies the thresholds for the activation of the mechanism, which quantify the increases relating to cases of rejection and overstaying; unfounded asylum applications; serious crimes. Member States have set this figure at 30% (contrary to 50% in the Commission proposal). The threshold for assessing whether an asylum recognition rate should be considered low was set at 20% (much higher than the proposed 4%).
There duration of temporary suspension of visa exemption has been increased from 9 to 12 months and may be extended for another 24 months (instead of the 18 months of the current system). During this suspension phase, the European Commission will initiate a dialogue with the third country, in order to adopt measures to remedy the circumstances that led to the suspension. If a solution is not found, the EU may decide to permanently revoke the visa-free travel regime. The reference period for identifying the existence of circumstances that may lead to a suspension has been changed to cover at least two months. This will allow longer reference periods (e.g. annual trends) to be taken into account and not just sudden changes in the relevant circumstances. Today's agreement on a common position will allow the Council to start negotiations with the European Parliament, once its position has been defined, to agree on a final text.
While visa-free travel offers important benefits for the economy, particularly in tourism, and is the cornerstone of social and cultural exchanges, the Council notes, it can also be a source of migration and security problems. Overstaying by visa-exempt travellers, for example, leads to an increase in irregular migration, which also happens when a large number of unfounded asylum applications are lodged by citizens of visa-exempt countries.
A similar increase in asylum requests can also occur when people use countries neighboring the EU, whose visa policies are not aligned with those of the EU, as a springboard to travel irregularly to the Union. The suspension mechanism, in place in its current form since 2018, serves as a safeguard against visa exemption abuse and allows the EU to temporarily suspend visa exemptions, under certain conditions.
However, the current rules do not take into account some recent developments affecting the Union, which currently has a visa-free regime in place with 61 third countries. Citizens of these countries can enter the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days, over a 180-day period without a visa.
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