Brussels, 12/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Thursday, the European Parliament will examine (consultation procedure) two reports relating to initiatives by France (based on article 63 para. 3 of the EC Treaty): one concerning the regulation on the free movement of extra-Community nationals with long-stay visas issued by a Member State (report by Gerard Deprez: Belgium, EPP), the other on the directive on mutual recognition of decisions to remove third country nationals (report by Harmut Nassauer; Germany, EPP).
France's initiative on the free movement of persons with long-stay visas (see EUROPE of 21 July 2000) has two goals shared by Mr. Deprez, which are, on the one hand, to facilitate the freedom of movement in the Schengen area of third country nationals regularly admitted onto the territory of a Member State, and, on the other, to move forward on the path of harmonisation of the conditions for issuing national long-stay visas. Mr. Deprez, however, hedges his opinion, considering that these two objectives "deserve a more global and integrated approach" and that the French initiative needs amending, "based on its goal, which is to facilitate movement within the Schengen area of holders of national long-stay visas not having received their residence permits" (you may recall that the then French Minister of the Interior, Jean-Pierre Chevenement had said that the French Presidency was to propose the creation of "harmonised long-stay residence permits", this harmonisation able to constitute a precondition for the total integration of the beneficiaries of the permits). Should this tendency of Member States go along the lines of a uniform long-stay visa (as desired by Gerard Deprez), "this decision will have to come within a comprehensive and consistent initiative, that, moreover, the Commission should take". The amendments introduced by the Deprez Report aim, notably, at: a) avoiding nationals of a third country in possession of the national long-stay visa issued by a Member State and while awaiting their residence permits, being penalised as regards the freedom of movement; b) ensuring that the national long-stay visa has the same value as a residence permit regarding free movement; c) and ensuring that a visa for a stay of over three months has the same value as a uniform transit visa, allowing its holder to go to the territory of the Member State that issued the visa.
The report by Harmut Nassauer rejects the French initiative regarding the mutual recognition of decisions on the removal of third country nationals, while subscribing to its political objective, and calls on France to retract it. The Council decision (published in the Official Journal C/243 of 24 August 2000) has as goal to facilitate the execution of removal measures taken against a third country national, and to ensure that a removal decision taken by one Member State may be executed by another. The initiative, that is thus focused on the mutual recognition of removal decisions, is based on Article 63 para 3 of the EC Treaty (which stipulates that the Council decides on measures, notably on immigration policy, including illegal immigration and illegal stay and the repatriation of persons staying on the territory illegally). According to some members of the Committee on Legal Affairs, this article is "the legal basis solely for material law and not for issues of procedure like those aimed at the mutual recognition of removal decisions". The general opinion of the Committee on Petitions, moreover, is that the French initiative is "inappropriate for political, legal, cultural and human reasons", as well as "because all that touches upon immigration merits being examined, in the context of an overall approach, on the basis of a European Commission initiative.