|
Abstract: The Community Code on Visas, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council after more than two years of negotiations, represents an important development of the Community visa policy. The Code recasts the procedures and conditions for the issuing of visas by the
Member States, previously contained in the 'communitarised' Schengen Convention and Common Consular Instructions, in a Regulation clarifying their content and legally binding
nature. The Code should also be seen in the wider context of the Community policy on external border controls. This is surrounded by controversy since it envisages intensification of control over individual movement across the external borders of the European Union by subjecting to control measures new categories of individuals, relying on biometric identifiers and strengthening the interconnection between pre-entry, border and within-the-country
controls so as to create a 'continuum of security measures'. In this context it is worth considering the impact of the Visa Code on some of the longstanding weaknesses of the Community visa regime and more generally of the Community policy on external border controls.These relate to the application by the Member States of mutual recognition of their national decisions to exclude third-country nationals in the absence of an adequate level of harmonisation of the substantive rules and of common definitions. In this respect, the contribution of the Visa Code is to harmonise consular practices on visa issuing thus introducing greater clarity as regards when an individual will be entitled to a visa, and to introduce long awaited procedural guarantees and remedies for visa applicants.
|
