The European Commission is set to propose a new legislation for non-members to make them take back those refugees, who didn’t receive asylum, according to the German outlet Die Welt. The change in the existing visa codex, which is slated to be published on March 14, will deny visas to citizens of countries, which fail to cooperate.
This introduces two-step measures: first, visas will be denied to elites, including diplomats and service passport holders for three months. Then, if this period isn’t enough to fix the disagreements, the restrictions will hit all citizens as the number of consulate services will be reduced, e.g. with fewer working hours.
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However, the legislation has a loophole for third countries stating that if they have “substantial problems” to ensure repatriation, e. g. with travel documents, fulfillment of agreement requirements and deportation flights, they can inform the EU.
Die Welt claims that the current restriction is based on the initiative of Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, who’s leaving the post in the new government. The pilot project of such a limitation for Bangladesh has proved to be successful, which has led the EU Commission to introduce the change.
Since 2015, Europe has been experiencing its worst migration crisis in recent history, struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers who fled from wars and humanitarian problems in Africa and the Middle East. This has led to growing spending by European governments as well as annoyance among the local populations.
READ MORE: Europe May Need 10-20 Years to Solve Migration Crisis — Italian Prime Minister