EU Parliament expands powers to suspend visa-free travel
The European Parliament on Tuesday approved reforms making it easier for the European Union to reinstate visa requirements for citizens of non-EU countries who are currently exempt from short-term visas.
The changes expand the list of possible reasons to suspend visa-free travel, including breaches of the United Nations Charter, disregard for international court rulings, failure to align with EU visa policy or citizenship-by-investment schemes, sometimes called “golden passports,” which grant nationality in exchange for money and can allow freer travel in Europe.
Visa-free travel for government officials could be suspended if they are implicated in human rights abuses or other violations.
The basic mechanism for reinstating visas already exists, historically triggered, for example, by a sharp rise in asylum applications from a particular country. The new rules give the EU greater flexibility to apply this “emergency brake” and could be used as leverage if countries fail to cooperate on migration or other issues.
The reforms affect 61 countries, including Israel, Georgia, Venezuela, Ukraine and Serbia, whose citizens can currently enter Europe’s Schengen area without a visa for stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period.
The legislation must still be formally adopted by the EU Council and will take effect 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
