Commission report confirms partner countries’ compliance with visa-free travel requirements and recommends further improvements

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

On 6 December, the Commission adopted the seventh report under the Visa Suspension Mechanism – monitoring the EU’s visa-free regimes with its Western Balkan and Eastern Partnership partners, the Eastern Caribbean countries operating investor citizenship schemes, and Latin American countries.

Visa-free travel facilitates mobility and people-to-people contacts, boosts the travel and tourism sector and promotes cultural and academic exchanges. Nevertheless, the past years have shown that travelling without a visa may pose significant challenges related to irregular migration and security.

The seventh report continues to take a broad approach, going beyond the EU’s neighbourhood: it covers all visa-free third countries with specific challenges that, if not addressed, may trigger the suspension mechanism. The report emphasises the actions taken by the third countries concerned to address the recommendations made by the Commission in 2023 in the sixth report under the Visa Suspension Mechanism, and areas where further efforts are needed.

EU’s neighbourhood

For the EU’s neighbourhood, the follow-up to the visa liberalisation process continues to be a powerful tool to support reforms and boost cooperation with the EU on migration, border management and security. The Commission considers that Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia have taken action to address several recommendations made in the sixth report under the Visa Suspension Mechanism. However, they still need to take further action, specifically to align their visa policies with the visa policy of the EU.

For Ukraine and Kosovo, whose nationals obtained the visa exemption less than seven years ago, the Commission considers that the visa liberalisation requirements continue to be fulfilled. But both countries still need to take action to address the Commission’s recommendations.

For Georgia, taking into account recent developments in the country, there are ongoing reflections on the possible activation of the visa suspension mechanism in relation to certain categories of persons. The Commission considers that, in order to avoid such activation and continue fulfilling all visa liberalisation benchmarks, the country needs to take further urgent action to address the Commission’s recommendations, particularly in the area of the protection of fundamental rights.

Eastern Caribbean

Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia are included in this report due to their status as visa-free countries and their operating investor citizenship schemes. The Commission considers that the five Caribbean countries’ screening and vetting procedures may not be sufficient to reject applicants who could be a potential security risk when travelling visa-free to the EU. At the same time, the Commission acknowledges the efforts taken by these countries to strengthen their procedures.

Latin America

Asylum applications lodged by nationals from visa-exempt third countries with low recognition rates increase the burden for the asylum systems of Member States. Some Member States are facing an increasing trend of asylum applicants from the visa-free countries in Latin America. The report monitors this situation closely and puts forward specific recommendations. The Commission will continue to cooperate with Latin American partners to address this increasing trend.

Next Steps

The Commission will continue monitoring the fulfilment of the visa liberalisation requirements, the results of which will feed into the Commission’s annual Enlargement package and, where relevant, EU accession negotiations. The Commission will continue to report to the European Parliament and the Council once a year.

Background

The EU currently has a visa-free regime with 64 non-EU countries and territories. Under this visa-free regime, non-EU citizens can enter the Schengen area for 90 days, within 180 days, without a visa. In May 2023, the Commission adopted a Communication on the monitoring of the EU’s visa-free travel regimes with partner countries, expanding the scope of the Visa Suspension Mechanism report. In October 2023, the Commission proposed a revision of the via suspension mechanism  to better address challenges linked to visa-free schemes and any possible abuses of visa-free travel by making the mechanism easier to trigger and increasing its deterrent effect. The Commission encourages the European Parliament and the Council to swiftly conclude negotiations on the proposal and ensure its adoption.