On January 9th the suspending mechanism enters in effect, according to
the amended visa regulation approved by the European Union Council in
the last month.
The decision aims to make sure that a member country will be able to ask the Euroepan Commission the suspending of the free movement from a country that benefits from the visa free regime in case of an urgent situation.
The urgent situation will be when during a period of six months, authorities note a sudden and significant increase of the number of illegal immigrants; asylum requests that are not founded; and a refusal of the requests for repatriation, compared to the same period of one year ago.
Although there is a decrease of the number of asylum seekers from Balkan, it is not yet convincing for some member countries, according to the Spokesperson of the Commissioner Malmstrom.
“There are some member countries that have complained in the past years about similar problems, and this is not something new. The same situation goes on. The concern of some member countries stays on the fact that this tendency is not significantly reduced. This is something that the Commission is watching systematically through the monitoring and evaluation system, created especially for seeing the situation”, declared Michele Cercone.
The suspending of the visa free regime will not be made immediately after the request of the member country. After the evaluation, the Commission and Council, with approval from the Parliament, might decide for a six-month suspension of the visa-free regime from the problematic country.
The new European Asylum System will enter in effect by mid 2015, with a common set of rules, deadlines and basic rights for the asylum seekers after they enter the European Union.
Top Channel
