Brussels, 24/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - As announced on 4 May this year in its communication on migration management in the EU, the Commission suggested, on Tuesday 24 May, that a safeguard clause be put in place allowing for temporary suspension of the visa liberalisation regime granted to third countries if the nationals of those countries make inappropriate use of the system, creating a new source of illegal immigration into the EU. In practical terms, this would mean revising the “visa” regulation 539/2001.
The safeguard clause, long advocated by a number of countries such as the Netherlands and France, recently took on special significance with the official complaints lodged with the Commission by Belgium, which was concerned by the rise in the number of requests for asylum submitted, in particular, by Serb and Macedonian nationals who had benefited from the visa waiver scheme since end 2009. The Belgian authorities considered such a rise in asylum requests was unjustified and, as they pointed out, often proved without grounds.
On Tuesday, the European commissioner for home affairs, Cecilia Malmström, was nonetheless careful not to point a finger of blame at any one third country in particular, saying that the safeguard clause was not specifically designed for the countries of the Western Balkans but for all third countries in which there have been irregularities or abuse of the system. Recalling the precious advantage that visa waiver had been for the citizens of the countries concerned, Malmström nonetheless acknowledged that it was necessary to prevent abuse and that unjustified requests for asylum should be prevented precisely in order to “safeguard the integrity” of the visa liberalisation regime.
According to the proposals on the table, the measure to suspend visa waiver would be a last resort should other attempts at restoring the situation to normal fail, and would only be used in exceptional circumstances, for example if there were a massive rise in illegal immigration or an uncontrolled rise in demands for asylum, Malmström said. The decision will not be “automatic”, she asserted, or taken unilaterally. On the basis of notification sent by member states, the Commission will assess the situation and weigh up how appropriate it is to suspend the liberalisation system for a given country. For this, the Commission will take into account the number of member states affected by abuse of the system and the impact that this has on the overall migration situation in the EU. The Commission indicates that the decision to suspend the visa waiver scheme will be adopted by comitology procedure, the Council and EP having a right of scrutiny over the process. The proposal, which will be on the agenda of the European home ministers on 9 and 10 June this year, in Luxembourg, has already been well accepted by a number of national delegations such as France, as they consider they are “along the right lines”.
These same delegations are impatient to receive other Commission proposals concerning the strengthening of Schengen rules and mechanisms allowing them to restore internal border checks, in light of the new circumstances. Here too, the Commission states it is willing to follow these member states and points out at this stage that it will put its proposals forward between the JHA Council of 9 and 10 June and the European Council of 24 June. (S.P./transl.jl)