Schengen area: EU set to toughen visa-free travel suspension rules

The European Parliament and Council teams have agreed to allow the EU to suspend visa-free travel for short stays into the union.

The decision comes after a reform of the mechanism to suspend short-stay visa-free travel into the EU was agreed upon, allowing the union to “respond more flexibly when countries backslide on important principles of their visa waiver agreement, which can include security concerns and human rights violations”.

The provisional agreement is yet to become law, as it needs to be formally adopted by both Parliament and Council.

In future, violations of the United Nations Charter, severe breaches of international human rights or humanitarian law, and not complying with international court decisions will be valid grounds for suspending visa freedom.

“This helps align the grounds for suspension with the grounds for granting the visa waiver in the first place, and can create a deterrent effect,” the European Parliament said.

With the new law, additional grounds for suspending the visa waiver will include hybrid threats, such as state-sponsored instrumentalisation of migrants aimed at destabilising or undermining society; and investor citizenship schemes (‘golden passports’), which raise security concerns. A country’s lack of alignment with EU visa policy, potentially making it a transit country for illegal entry into the EU, will also be a valid ground for suspending visa-free regimes. Existing grounds, including a lack of cooperation on readmissions, will be maintained.

To deter third-country governments from violating the terms of their short-stay visa waiver agreement, the agreed law gives the EU more flexibility to target government officials (who may bear responsibility for a government’s human rights breaches or other violations) with suspensions of visa freedom.

Based on a proposal, it was agreed that the Commission can prevent member states from exempting from visa suspension diplomatic and service passport carrying government and state officials.

After the vote, rapporteur Matjaž Nemec (S&D, Slovenia) said: “Reformed visa rules will give the EU a revamped tool to respond to geopolitical situations and new threats. Visa policy can contribute to upholding EU values by ensuring that there are consequences when a foreign government breaches human rights and international law. In such cases, their government representatives and diplomats should have their visa-free access to the EU revoked, and this agreement makes that more likely.”

Nationals of 61 third countries can currently travel to the Schengen area for short stays (up to 90 days in any 180-day period) without a visa.

According to the current law, the European Commission, following a proposal by a concerned member state or on its own initiative, can start the process of suspending visa-free travel from third countries into the Schengen area, first temporarily, pending further investigation and dialogue with the country in question, and then permanently if the issues are not resolved.