EU renews visa, migration management strategies

ISTANBUL

The European Commission on Thursday announced that it has renewed its strategies on visa, asylum and migration management.

EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner and Henna Virkkunen, executive vice president for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, held a joint news conference announcing that they have adopted two major proposals as the Strategy on Asylum and Migration Management and the EU Visa Strategy.

"We are setting out our new way forward: A balanced migration policy," Virkkunen said, highlighting that their visa policy needs to reflect today's reality.

She noted that they are "the first-ever comprehensive EU visa strategy" to use visas in a "more strategic, coordinated, and assertive way."

"We need to attract talent – this is a must for our economic growth and competitiveness. We will recommend how to cut red tape and use the flexibilities we have, we will provide them with operational support, and also simplify and improve the legal framework in the future," Virkkunen underscored.

She further said that they need to assess the feasibility of a "targeted, very fast EU-visa scheme" for start-ups and scale-ups.

"The strategy pushes for a fully digital, more efficient visa policy, with ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) this year and full digitalization by 2028," Virkkunen added.

Brunner, for his part, said that visa-free travel to the EU comes with responsibilities and announced that they will make "those responsibilities crystal clear."

"Think of it like a traffic light. To earn the green light, third countries must meet objective criteria, such as low visa refusal rates and high return rates. Only then can visa-free travel be granted. But earning the green light is not the end of the story. We will maintain a continuous dialogue to ensure these criteria are respected over time," he explained.

Brunner stressed that if a country fails to meet its obligations, visa-free travel can be suspended "without hesitation."

"For countries whose citizens need visas to enter the EU, we will strengthen our leverage by linking visa conditions more closely to our interests," he added.

He reaffirmed that they will improve their current system on readmission, "so the EU can act faster against partners who refuse to take back their own nationals who have no right to stay in the EU."

"We will also go beyond readmission, connecting visa rules to cooperation on other priorities, like border protection, security, and fighting illegal migration," Brunner added.

He further underscored the need for a new way of bringing illegal arrivals down through migration diplomacy.

"We need to focus on what is happening beyond the EU's external borders, acting along the migratory routes, long before people go on dangerous journeys," Brunner further said.

He also added that the bloc will explore longer multi-entry visas for frequent travelers and faster processing for trusted companies.