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In December 2021, the European Commission presented a proposal to amend the Schengen Borders Code, which lays down the rules governing controls at the EU internal and external borders. While debates on the reform of Schengen have been going on for a while, recent challenges – relating to the coronavirus pandemic on the one hand, and attempts to instrumentalise migrants as a way to put pressure on the EU's external borders, on the other – have created new momentum for reform. The Commission's proposal ...

The development of the Schengen area is one of the major achievements of European integration. The removal of checks on persons at internal borders greatly facilitates the exercise of the EU freedoms of movement, which brings significant social and economic benefits. The Schengen area has come under increased stress in the past decade, owing to multiple challenges relating to increased migration into the EU, threats to internal security and the COVID 19 pandemic. In response to these challenges, ...

States must treat asylum-seekers and refugees according to the appropriate standards laid down in human rights and refugee law. The 2015 migration crisis revealed wide divergences in the level of reception conditions provided by Member States, which have persisted until today. While some are facing problems in ensuring adequate and dignified treatment of applicants, in others the standards of reception provided are more generous. This has led to secondary movements of asylum-seekers and refugees, ...

European Union (EU) Regulation 2018/1806, the Visa Regulation, determines the non-EU countries whose nationals are subject to, or exempt from, the visa requirement. The EU currently has a visa exemption regime with 61 non-EU countries – including two special administrative regions of China (Hong Kong and Macao) and one territorial authority (Taiwan) that is not recognised as a state by at least one EU Member State. By 1 January 2024, Kosovo will join the list. Under this regime, nationals from these ...

Cette étude, commandée par le département thématique des droits des citoyens et des affaires constitutionnelles du Parlement européen à la demande de la commission des libertés civiles, de la justice et des affaires intérieures, évalue la situation de l’espace Schengen et les dernières évolutions juridiques et politiques ayant un intérêt direct pour l’acquis de Schengen. Elle analyse l’incidence de ces évolutions, ainsi que le rôle de la «crise déclarée» sur le code frontières Schengen, les normes ...

The highlight of the December 2022 plenary session was the ceremony awarding the 2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the brave people of Ukraine. Also, in a 'This is Europe' debate, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, addressed the plenary. With Council and European Commission representatives, Members debated the preparation of the European Council meeting of 15 December 2022. A number of debates also took place: on the outcome of COP27; addressing persistent challenges in the ...

The highlight of the November I 2022 plenary session was the debate on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of 20 21 October 2022, during which European Union leaders discussed the latest developments in Russia's military campaign against Ukraine, Europe's energy crisis, and external relations – with China in particular. Members also debated Commission statements on the outcome of the modernisation of the Energy Charter, the EU response to the increasing crack-down on protests in Iran, ...

Composé de 22 États membres de l’Union et de quatre pays tiers associés, l’espace Schengen désigne une zone sans contrôle systématique aux frontières intérieures. Bien que quatre autres États membres (Bulgarie, Croatie, Chypre et Roumanie) soient soumis à la législation Schengen de l'Union (l’acquis de Schengen), les contrôles aux frontières intérieures y sont toujours en place. Suite à l’évaluation de Schengen positive obtenue par la Croatie, le Conseil a élaboré un projet de décision relatif à ...

The number of border walls and fences worldwide has increased dramatically in recent decades. This also holds for the EU/Schengen area, which is currently surrounded or criss-crossed by 19 border or separation fences stretching for more than 2 000 kilometres (km). Between 2014 and 2022, the aggregate length of border fences at the EU's external borders and within the EU/Schengen area grew from 315 km to 2 048 km. Two main official reasons are put forward for building border fences: to prevent irregular ...

The EU has imposed progressively harsher sanctions on Russia, first in response to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and then in response to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Successive packages of EU sanctions, adopted in the framework of the EU's common foreign and security policy, include entry restrictions for specific individuals linked to Russia's aggression against Ukraine. After partially suspending the EU-Russia visa facilitation agreement in February 2022 ...