The European Parliament has approved legislation that makes it easier to revoke the right to enter the EU without a visa from countries that pose a security risk or violate human rights.
On Tuesday, MEPs approved the reform of the EU’s visa suspension mechanism for 61 countries, whose citizens can currently travel to the Schengen area for short stays (up to 90 days in a 180-day period) without a visa.
New grounds for suspension
The reform introduces new grounds that can lead to the suspension of the visa waiver, such as:
- hybrid threats (such as state instrumentalisation of migration flows)
- investor citizenship schemes (‘golden passports’) that raise concerns about European security
- lack of alignment with EU visa policy
- violations of the UN Charter, international human rights or humanitarian law
- non-compliance with international court rulings.
These changes aim to be dissuasive, while at the same time aligning the grounds for suspension with the grounds for granting visa waivers. The existing grounds for triggering the mechanism, such as security concerns and lack of cooperation on readmissions, remain in force.
No to impunity for government officials
To prevent third-country governments from violating the terms of visa waiver agreements, the EU will be able to suspend the waiver specifically for government officials who may be responsible for human rights violations or other violations.
About the mechanism
The mechanism allows the European Commission to temporarily reintroduce the visa requirement for a country when there are concerns about the security of the EU. Under the new rules, the Commission (either on its own initiative or following a proposal from a Member State, taking into account information from EU institutions) will be able to initiate the procedure to suspend the visa waiver for citizens of a specific country. After further investigation and dialogue, the decision could be made permanent if problems persist.
Possible reasons for such a suspension include threats to internal security (such as an increase in serious crimes committed by nationals of a country), as well as a significant increase in rejected asylum applications, refusals of entry or the number of people overstaying their authorised stay. The threshold for an increase to be considered ‘substantial’ is set at 30% for incidents such as people staying without a permit or serious crimes, and at 20% for low asylum approval rates. In specific cases, the Commission will be able to deviate from these thresholds.
To date, the EU has only reintroduced the visa requirement once, in the case of Vanuatu.
Statements
Rapporteur Matja? Nemec (S&D, Slovenia) said: “Europe remains the most visited continent in the world, both for tourists and business travellers. As such, our visa policy is one of the most powerful foreign policy tools we have. With a modernised suspension mechanism, the EU will be able to re-impose the visa requirement in case of serious human rights violations and target government officials or other groups. The new mechanism also reinforces our commitment to human rights and international law.”
Next steps
The legislation, which has already been informally agreed between Parliament and the Council, was adopted in plenary by 518 votes to 96, with 24 abstentions. It will then have to be formally approved by the Council and will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.
