EU Warns 13 Countries They May Face Schengen Visa Restrictions Due to Lack of Cooperation on Readmission of Illegal Migrants
Thirteen third-countries out of a list consisting of a total of 39, which have performed worst in terms of cooperation with the European Union authorities in returning and readmitting their citizens staying illegally in the block, may soon suffer the consequences.
Two weeks after the Ministers of Interior of the European Union Member States showed their full support to a Commission’s previous proposal on the usage of Schengen Visa processing rules as leverage for pushing third-countries to cooperate with the block on the return and readmission of illegal migrants, the Commission has drafted a list of 13 countries, which are least cooperative in this regard.
The citizens of the countries in this list, all of them located in Africa and the Middle East, may soon face difficulties in getting a short-term visa to Europe’s border-free zone of Schengen, German newspaper Die Wel reported on Sunday.
According to a document seen by the same newspaper, these 13 countries have shown they are unwilling to take back their citizens, whose asylum claims have been turned down. While the Commission hasn’t confirmed which countries are part of the list, the newspaper claims the countries are:
- Iraq
- Iran
- Libya
- Senegal
- Somalia
- Mali
- Gambia
- Cameroon
- the Republic of Congo
- Egypt
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Guinea-Bissau
The Commission is now set to start talks with these countries in order to reach an agreement based on which the same will take back their citizens in the block, whose asylum claims have been turned down, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
In a video meeting of the EU Ministers of Interior held on March 12, the latter have shown their full support to the Commission’s proposal on the usage of Schengen Visa processing rules as leverage for = third-countries to collaborate with the block on the return and readmission of illegal migrants.
Throughout the meeting, Germany’s Minister of the Interior Seehofer said that migration policy is not “a one-way street”, showing his full support for the proposal.
“If countries do not cooperate on repatriation, there must be consequences. Those who do not take back their own citizens cannot expect any visa facilitation,” the Minister said.
In June 2019, the Council of the EU had adopted several amendments to the Schengen Visa Code, which among others, foresee the establishment of a mechanism that uses visa processing as leverage to improve cooperation with non-EU countries on the return of illegal migrants.
The same obliges the Commission to evaluate at least once a year third countries’ cooperation on readmission of illegal migrants and find whether they are cooperating sufficiently. If not, the citizens of the non-cooperating countries will face visa restrictions. The latter include increased visa fees and wait for long periods for their visas to be processed.
In February this year, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reported that the first factual assessment found that the Member States have had a bad experience with over one-third of the assessed countries, which means the level of cooperation with those countries on returns and readmission requires improvements.
The selected countries were evaluated based on objective criteria by looking at countries the nationals of which are subject to a short-stay visa requirement for the Schengen Area and for which the EU issued more than 1,000 return decisions in 2018.
