The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, announced a forthcoming revision of the mechanism for suspending visa liberalisation regimes, on Thursday 9 March, following the meeting of the EU27 interior ministers.
This revision will allow the suspension of regimes granted to third countries which are misused by their nationals, for example to lodge unfounded asylum applications in the EU.
It is “time to revise” this suspension mechanism, the commissioner said, as 20% of asylum applications in the EU are made by people enjoying these visa-free regimes and who, she said, “abuse the system”.
Swedish Minister for Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard welcomed the announcement, saying that the review had been requested by a large majority of Member States.
On Thursday, the ministers also asked the European Commission to continue to assess carefully whether the countries benefiting from it meet the criteria required to obtain a visa liberalisation regime.
This visa-free suspension mechanism, adopted in 2013, was already revised in 2017 (see EUROPE 11685/7), as it was deemed impracticable and too difficult to activate. It has never been activated to date. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)