The European Commission has unfolded a proposal which, among others, seeks to tighten visa suspension rules and the monitoring of visa-free countries as a response to the “abuse” of visa-free travel in Europe.
Through a statement, the European Commission said that such a decision would help solve the challenges, such as increased irregular arrivals, investor citizenship schemes in visa-free countries or hybrid threats.
Considering visa-free travel an essential element to facilitate people-to-people contacts and strengthen business, social and cultural ties between EU and partner states, the European Commission Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, said that maintaining this achievement and extending it to more countries requires constant vigilance.
This is why today we are proposing a stronger mechanism that will equip us with the means to quickly counter any abuses of visa-free travel, particularly when these lead to irregular migration or security risks for the EU
Visa-free travel between the EU and its partner states has also been considered a significant achievement by the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, while she stressed that abolishing visa requirements eases mobility and people-to-people contacts, considering it as an incentive key for policy reforms.
Nevertheless, there are emerging challenges related to visa-free travel that we need to be ready to address. This is why we need to reinforce our monitoring of the EU visa-free regimes and to have a stronger Visa Suspension Mechanism.
The proposal delivers on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s commitment to strengthen further the visa suspension mechanism and the monitoring of visa-free states.
It has been accompanied by the sixth report under the Visa Suspension Mechanism. The European Commission has been providing reports under this mechanism since 2017. The sixth report includes the countries having a visa liberalisation dialogue from the western Balkans and Eastern Partnership and the countries in the Pacific and the Caribbean which have investor citizenship programs in place.
The bloc expressed concerns that some of the countries that have visa-free access to the EU could be used as a transit hub for irregular migrants attempting to reach the EU states.
In addition, the Commission will continue to implement the new monitoring approach announced in the communication published in May this year, covering all visa-free third countries.
The proposal of the Commission to revise the Visa Suspension Mechanism will be negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council.
