12 September 2023
The Price of Transatlantic Friendship
While the citizens of most EU Member States enjoy visa-free travel to the US, citizens of Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus do not. Following the Commission’s repeated refusal to activate the reciprocity mechanism in EU visa law to remedy this inequality in access to visa-free travel, the European Parliament asked the CJEU whether the Commission was under an obligation to do so. The Court answered in the negative, holding instead that the Commission had wide discretion in this regard. Its reasoning centers the sensitive political nature that visa retaliation vis-á-vis the US implies, while failing to instill a sense of urgency in working towards equal treatment of EU citizens. This threatens to perpetuate a situation in which the advantages of supranational integration in the context of the Schengen acquis are permanently withheld from nationals of Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Continue reading >>
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17 August 2022
Heated tempers and legal ambiguities
After some heads of EU governments advocated for an all-out ban of Russian nationals’ Schengen visas, a heated academic and political debate arose over the question whether the EU could bar Russians from acquiring visas for a short-term stay in the Schengen area. Could a sweeping travel ban for Russian citizens be justified in the light of EU law? This blogpost advises caution. Continue reading >>
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12 Juli 2022
The Selective Nature of a pan-European Willkommenskultur
Four months into Russia’s war on Ukraine, there has been a tremendous show of support for Ukrainians fleeing violence and the atrocities of war – in Europe and elsewhere in the world. As is well-known, European states have hammered out pragmatic administrative solutions to accommodate large numbers of incoming person, going to great lengths to provide for beneficial welfare arrangements. Against this backdrop, it may not be unreasonable to present the crisis in Ukraine as a tipping point for humanitarian protection more generally. Continue reading >>
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28 April 2022
Reviving the Promise of Schengen
The EU Treaties are not shy when it comes to making grand promises. Take Article 3 (2) TEU for instance, which stipulates that the EU proffers an area ‘without internal frontiers’. While, technically speaking, borders continue to exist within the EU, it is true that they have become largely intangible inside the Schengen area. This may reasonably be viewed one of the greatest achievements of European integration. Solemnities aside, however, this promise has been called into question in recent years. Continue reading >>
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