Draft on visa safety mechanism changed

MEP De Mera changed the Commission’s draft by asking the involvement of the European Parliament in the decision of the member countries for returning visas, and the Commission avoids the “safety clause” term. It also asks that the data about the increase of the asylum seekers and illegal emigration should not be based on a 50% increase for a 6-month period, but on a 60% increase compared to the previous year.

“For me, as we discussed at the Foreign Committee, the percentage should be removed, so that it cannot be used politically, or we should refer to it only for a sudden and extraordinary increase of asylum seekers that would affect the EU in general, but these data are not sufficient to be used as decisive for returning the visa regime”, declared Tanya Fayon, Second Rapporteur at the EP.

For MEP Agustín Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, First Rapporteur at the European Parliament, the percentage mechanism will be used only for avoiding an automatic mechanism. He also underlined that this is a technical issue and especially political.

Jan de Ceuster, Head of the Unit for the Visa Policy at the European Council declared that the determining criteria for starting the procedure should be clearly defined, without any vagueness, what would allow more space towards the member countries for evaluating the application mechanism of this measure, or for the Commission when it needs to take a position if the visa regime should be suspended or not. For this reason, according to Jan De Ceuster, the Commission had assigned mathematical criteria that didn’t allow too much arbitrary. De Ceuster says that the Council’s Presidency explains that the member countries are more in favor of vague criteria that would allow more flexibility.

The draft proposes that the decision for returning the visa regime should be given by the commission within a 90 days period, from the moment when one or some member countries complain for the increase of asylum seekers or emigrants.

In case there will be a decision for using the safety mechanism, the visa regime will be applied temporary, for six months, against the abusing country. This period could take to one year. Later, if the EU evaluates that the alarming situation is not improved, then this decision could be taken for adding this country to the Schengen black list, which menas that the entire visa liberalization process would be repeated from the beginning.

December 6th is the last deadline for the amends proposed by the responsible Members of the European Parliament, and the final text is expected to be voted in the beginning of the next year, in a plenary session of the European Parliament.

Prepared by: Arta Tozaj

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