EU Proposes Mechanism to Suspend Visa-Free Regime

The Commission proposed the "safeguard clause", which will go to EU ministers for discussion in June, in the wake of growing pressure on Macedonia and Serbia to stem the flow of asylum seekers into Europe that began after the countries were granted visa free travel in December 2009.

The mechanism was announced by Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem on Tuesday, and the Commissioner took care to reiterate several times on Tuesday that the mechanism would only be used as a very last resort to combate abuse of the visa-free regime, after all other efforts had failed.

"Such a mechanism would provide the EU with a tool, to be used only in exceptional circumstances, for off-setting any possible serious adverse consequences of visa liberalisation, and in particular the arrival in the EU of a large number of irregular migrants or asylum seekers whose claims are not well-founded," the Commission said in a statement.

In a press conference announcing the proposal, Malmstroem said: "The visa system we have today doesn't fully allow for swift decision making when there is an urgency.  We have seen recently that there has been problems with certain countries where visas have been wrongly used and instead it was used to apply for asylum.And one could imagine that there could be problems in future with the visa system."

She explained that the Commission had proposed a safeguard clause that would allow the EU to temporarily suspend the visa-free regime in "exceptional and well-defined circumstances", and after all other efforts had failed.

"It is not the intention to reintroduce the visas today. I hope it will never be used, but it is there to protect the integrity of the system and enable us to move further with other countries and lifting the visa obligations. It is not directed to any specific country, it is a general clause, and there is no automaticity in this at all," she explained.

Malmstroem also noted that the proposed safeguard clause could not be activated by a single country, but would be a joint decision.

Serbian and Macedonian officials have vowed to crack down on their citizens, mainly Roma and ethnic Albanians from the poor south, who travel to the EU to submit asylum requests, which are invariably rejected.

Serbian leaders have promised both short and long-term measures to cut the flow, including cracking down on travel agencies that are believed to be encouraging people to go to Europe to claim asylum and improving basic living conditions in those areas from which the majority of asylum-seekers come.

Recently Belgium, one of the main states that have been hit hard by the flow of asylum seekers, threatened to propose a suspension of Serbia's visa-free regime.

In early May, Belgium sent a letter to the European Commission suggesting a suspension of the visa-free regime with Serbia.

"If Serbia fails to undertake necessary measures, Belgium is ready to request suspension [of the visa-free regime with Serbia]," the Belgian letter reads.