EU member states’ ambassadors (Coreper) have agreed on a draft regulation that updates the mechanism allowing the EU to suspend visa-free travel for third countries whose nationals are exempt from the visa obligation when travelling to the Schengen area. This new law, once adopted, will enhance the EU’s toolbox to counter situations where visa-free travel is being abused or works against the EU’s interests.
The updated mechanism provides the EU with new grounds to suspend the visa-free regime:
Lack of alignment of a visa-free third country with the EU’s visa policy, which may lead to increased arrivals to the EU due to the country’s geographical proximity to the EU.
The operation of an investor citizenship scheme, where citizenship is granted without any genuine link to the third country concerned, in exchange for pre-determined payments or investments.
Hybrid threats and deficiencies in document security legislation or procedures.
Member states have also decided to include the possibility to suspend the visa-free regime in case of a significant and abrupt deterioration in the EU’s external relations with a third country, particularly when it relates to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The following existing grounds remain in place: a substantial increase in the number of third-country nationals who are refused entry or found overstaying; a substantial increase in the number of unfounded asylum applications from the nationals of a third country for which the recognition rate is low; a decrease in cooperation with the EU on readmission of people that have been asked to leave the EU territory and a risk or imminent threat to public policy or internal security.
The Council negotiating mandate also details the thresholds to trigger the mechanism. These thresholds quantify increases in: cases of refused entry and overstay; unfounded asylum applications; and serious criminal offences. Member states have set this number at 30% (contrary to 50% in the Commission proposal). On the other hand, the threshold to assess if an asylum recognition rate should be considered as low has been fixed at 20% (instead of the proposed 4%).
The duration of temporary suspension of the visa exemption has been increased from 9 to 12 months and can be extended by another 24 months. During this suspension phase, the European Commission will engage in a dialogue with the third country in order to take steps to remedy the circumstances that led to the suspension.
If no solution is found to remedy the situation, the EU can decide to permanently revoke the visa-free travel regime.
The reference period for identifying the existence of circumstances which may lead to a suspension has been amended to cover at least two months. This will make it possible to take longer reference periods (e.g. annual trends) into consideration, not just sudden changes in the relevant circumstances.
Today’s agreement on a common position will allow the Council to enter into negotiations with the European Parliament, once it has settled on its own position, in order to agree on a final legal text.
While visa-free travel offers important gains for our economies as well as the tourism and travel sectors and is the cornerstone of social and cultural exchanges, it can also be a source of significant migration and security challenges.
