This move follows President von der Leyen’s pledge, made in a March 2023 letter to the European Council, to enhance visa policy alignment monitoring and propose legislative amendments to the Visa Suspension Mechanism.
The Visa Suspension Mechanism, as per Article 8 of the Visa Regulation, provides the possibility of a temporary pause on visa exemption in instances of a significant increase in irregular migration or heightened security risks. With this new undertaking, the Commission hopes to strengthen this mechanism through collaboration and consultation.
While visa-free travel significantly contributes to the economic, social, and cultural landscapes of EU member states and third countries, it has also been linked to notable migration and security difficulties in recent years. An imbalance in visa alignment with EU policy can lead to visa-free nations becoming conduits for irregular entries into the EU.
In 2022, a surge in irregular arrivals was observed due to visa-free entries from nationals of countries required to have a visa for the EU into the Western Balkans. To tackle this, the Commission engaged in intensive dialogue with Western Balkan partners, leading to substantial progress in visa alignment and a subsequent decrease in irregular arrivals.
Moreover, the investor citizenship schemes offered by visa-free third countries carry potential security threats for the EU, such as the infiltration of organized crime, money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption. These schemes allow non-EU nationals to gain nationality of a visa-free country, enabling them to enter the EU visa-free and bypass the EU short-stay visa procedure.
As part of its efforts to mitigate these risks, the Commission aims to bolster the monitoring of visa-free regimes and the visa suspension mechanism.
The consultation process launched today aims to identify effective measures to enhance the EU’s visa suspension mechanism, which may involve updating the suspension triggers, introducing new grounds for suspension, increasing efficiency and flexibility in the suspension procedure, and strengthening monitoring and reporting provisions.
In autumn 2023, following discussions with the European Parliament and the Council on ways to reinforce the visa policy toolbox, the Commission plans to submit a legislative proposal to revise the Visa Suspension Mechanism.
Currently, the EU maintains visa-free regimes with 61 non-EU countries. Of these, 25 countries have visa waiver agreements with the EU, eight gained visa exemption after successfully completing a visa liberalization dialogue, while the remaining countries secured visa exemption as per the first harmonization of EU rules. Recently, on 19 April 2023, the Council and the European Parliament consented to offer visa exemption to Kosovo, effective from 1 January 2024, after successful visa liberalization talks.
