European Parliament approves simplified visa-free suspension: what it entails

The European Parliament has voted for a more flexible mechanism to suspend visa-free travel in the EU, including hybrid threats and "golden passports", human rights violations and non-compliance with decisions of international courts as grounds, the European institution announced on Tuesday, UNN reports.

Details

"The European Parliament has supported legislation that simplifies the cancellation of the right to visa-free travel in the EU for countries that pose a security threat or violate human rights," the statement said.

During a vote on Tuesday, MEPs, as stated, approved a reform of the EU visa suspension mechanism for 61 countries whose citizens can currently enter the Schengen area without a visa for short-term periods of up to 90 days within any 180-day period.

The legislation, already informally agreed upon by parliamentary negotiators and members of the EU Council, was approved in plenary with 518 votes in favor, 96 against, and 24 abstentions.

This mechanism allows the European Commission to reinstate a visa regime for a specific country if there are security concerns – initially temporarily, pending investigation and dialogue, and then permanently if the problems persist. Grounds include threats to internal security (including an increase in serious crimes committed by citizens of the country concerned), as well as a significant increase in the number of rejected asylum applications, refusals of entry, or the number of overstayed visas.

New grounds for suspending visa-free travel

The reform, as reported, adds new grounds for suspending visa-free travel, namely:

• hybrid threats (e.g., state-sponsored instrumentalization of migrants);
• investor citizenship programs (or "golden passports") that raise security concerns;
• non-compliance with EU visa policy;
• violations of the UN Charter, international human rights, or humanitarian law;
• non-compliance with decisions of international courts.

These additions, as stated, equate the grounds for suspension with the grounds for granting visa-free travel and are aimed at creating a deterrent effect. Existing grounds, including security concerns and lack of cooperation on readmission issues, will be retained, it is noted.

What about officials from third countries

"To deter third-country governments from violating the terms of short-stay visa-free agreements, the legislation will give the EU greater flexibility in suspending visa-free travel for public officials who may be responsible for human rights violations or other abuses committed by the government," the European Parliament noted.

With the reform, the threshold for assessing a "significant" increase in the number of people staying in the country without permission, or the number of serious criminal offenses, will reportedly be set at 30%. The threshold for calculating a low rate of asylum application approval will be set at 20%. In justified cases, the European Commission will also be able to deviate from these thresholds.

What's next

The legislation still needs to be formally adopted by the EU Council. It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

How the system will work

Under the new rules, the European Commission (at the proposal of an interested Member State or on its own initiative, and taking into account information received from any EU institution) may initiate the process of suspending visa-free travel for citizens of third countries to the Schengen area, initially temporarily, and then, if the problems are not resolved, permanently. To date, as reported, visa-free travel has been revoked only once – in the case of Vanuatu.