CEEOL - Search Result

#47 An Assessment of the Commission’s 2011 Schengen Governance Package. Preventing abuse by EU member states of freedom of movement?

Author(s): Sergio Carrera / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2012

The Schengen system has been at the centre of sharp controversy throughout 2011 and the early months of 2012 a rising from attempts by several member state governments to challenge the right to the free movement of persons and the abolition of internal border checks. The speech delivered by Nicolas Sarkozy early this month (March 2012), as part of the French presidential campaign, in which he threatened to suspend France’s participation in Schengen illustrates this phenomenon. This paper examines the European Commission’s response to the Schengen controversies, namely the Schengen Goverance Package publishedin September 2011 and currently under negotiation in Council and the European Parliament. It assesses the scope and added value of the Package’s two new legislative proposals (a new Schengen evaluation mechanism and revised rules for restating internal border checks) by looking at the origins and features ofthe debate surrounding liberty of circulation in the Schengen area.

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#54 Russia and the Common Space on Freedom, Security and Justice

Author(s): Olga Potemkina,Raül Hernández i Sagrera / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2013

EU-Russia cooperation in the framework of the Common Space on Freedom, Security and Justice, launched almost a decade ago in 2003, has borne fruit more in the security aspects than the justice and liberty-related policy areas. This study assesses the uneven cooperation onjustice and home affairs between the EU and Russia, while delving into the intersection between cooperation on justice, liberty and security and the promotion of human rights, democracy and rule of law in EU-Russia relations. The study concludes by proposing a set of policy recommendations to the LIBE Committee for playing a more active role in this important field of cooperation between the EU and Russia.

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#70 Statistics on Loss of Nationality in the EU

Author(s): Maarten Peter Vink,Ngo Chun Luk / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2014

Within the European Union (EU), much progress has been made over the past years with regard to the collection of comparable and reliable information on the regulations with regard to the acquisition and loss of nationality in the Member States of the EU. The ILEC project provides much-needed additional information on the regulation and administrative practices on involuntary loss of nationality in the EU. While EU and international law provide important normative standards for the evaluation of these regulations and practices, in order to understand their practical relevance it is also important to have an insight in how many people are affected by such rules and practices.

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#72 European Citizenship at a Crossroads. Enhancing European Cooperation on Acquisition and Loss of Nationality

Author(s): Sergio Carrera,René de Groot / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2014

Are the Member States of the European Union (EU) free to take their own decisions concerning the acquisition and loss of nationality? European citizenship has progressively become the fundamental status of Member States’ nationals.Holding the nationality of a Member State constitutes the ‘master key’ to European citizenship. While the conditions for the acquisition and loss of nationality fall formally within member states’ national competences, their autonomy has been progressively remodelled as a result of international and European Union cooperation.

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#73 Best Practices in Involuntary Loss of Nationality in the EU

Author(s): René de Groot,Maarten Peter Vink / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2014

This policy brief deals with loss of citizenship ofthe European Union (EU) due to the loss of nationality of a Member State. To hold nationality of an EU Member State is the master key to European citizenship. Only the nationals of a Member State possess European citizenship. Consequently, the loss of nationality of a Member State also implies the loss of European citizenship.

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Ignoring Dissent and Legality. The EU’s proposal to share the personal information of all passengers

Author(s): Evelien Brouwer / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

In February 2011, the European Commission published a proposal for a new Directive on theuse of passenger name record (PNR) data for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crimes. This proposal replaces an earlier draft of 2007 for a Framework Decision on the use of PNR data for law enforcement purposes. The new proposal does not seem to allay the earlier concerns of important stake holders with regard to the 2007 proposal. Its content contradicts not only important principles of data protection as described by the Commission in November 2010, but also the principle of proportionality underlying EU law.

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Labour Migration and Unemployment. What can we learn from EU rules on the free movement of workers?

Author(s): Sergio Carrera,Elspeth Guild / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2012

This paper examines the impact of labour migration on unemployment in the context of the EU’s accession of Bulgaria and Romania and EU rules on the free movement of workers. It addresses in particular the following two questions. First, does intra-EU labour migration correlate with employment/unemploymentrates in host or home member states during periods of unsettled growth? Second, how have member states reacted in terms of restricting or allowing access to their labour markets by EU-2 workers during thetransitional periods?

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Latin American Reactions to the Adoption of the Returns Directive

Author(s): Diego Acosta Arcarazo / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2009

The European Union has had a clear-cut competency to deal with immigration since the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999. Since then, addressing irregular immigration, including the repatriation of irregular residents, has been a central part of the EU’s common immigration policy. The EU always defended the idea that an effective returns policy was key to ensuring public support for other elements in the policy, such as legal migration and asylum.

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Made in the USA? The Influence of the US on the EU’s Data Protection Regime

Author(s): Patryk Pawlak / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2009

Recent developments have shown that the EU’s border security policy is greatly influenced by the US. This influence simultaneously has implications for other EU policies, including those on data protection. This paper highlights that policy-making at the transatlantic level is increasingly taking place through informal networks, such as the High-Level Political Dialogue on Border and Transportation Security and the High-Level Contact Group on data protection, which allow US involvement in EU policy-making. This tendency stems from the growing personal relationships among policy-makers, the gradual substitution of formal instruments with less formal contracts and informal understandings shaping the content of formal agreements. Drawing from empirical examples of EU–US cooperation on data protection in the context of homeland security, the paper analyses the repercussions of these developments and the issues that remain unresolved, and offers policy recommendations.

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Quantum Surveillance and ‘Shared Secrets’. A biometric step too far?

Author(s): Juliet Lodge / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2010

Biometrics are a feature of communication technologies (ICTs). Their disproportionate use andthe lax and arbitrary way in which they are defined and implemented endangers values, norms and practices central to accepted conceptions in the EU27 of transparency, data protection and data privacy. Concern over the indiscriminate and growing use of biometrics for increasingly mundane and imprecise purposes results in a breach of the earlier intention to ensure their proportionate deployment based on the principle of necessity. Deviation from this is now justified by reference to loose arguments about the alleged ‘certainty’ that biometric identifiers bring to cutting risk, and so enhancing ‘security’, however that is defined.

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Reinforcing Interregional Cooperation between the EU and the GCC. Scenarios for a Modification of Visa Policies

Author(s): Elspeth Guild,Anaïs Faure Atger / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

Both the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are major political and economic actors, and the development of strategic partnerships in selected areas between the regions is among the priorities on their respective agendas. The existence of complex visa policies and practices between the two regions, however, constitutes a fundamental barrier preventing the promotion of exchanges between these regions when encouraging people-to-people contacts, developing commercial relations or exchanging knowledge. This paper aims at evaluating the possibilities for the visa rules of both regions being modified in order to reflect the privileged partnership that the EU and the GCC are willing to further develop. It concludes by putting forward policy recommendations and three scenarios on the possible ways to overcome current issues and implement new strategies for visa policy in the context of public diplomacy and outreach in EU–GCC relations.

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The ‘Next Generation’ Visa. Belt and braces or the emperor’s new clothes?

Author(s): Can E. Mutlu,Mark B. Salter / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

National, state-based visa waivers are ‘blunt instruments’ for border, immigration, and mobility management. A symbol of the tension between the norms of reciprocity and unilateralism: the unilateral imposition of a Canadianvisa on Czech nationals caused diplomatic turbulence between the Czech and Canadian governments, and posed apolicy problem for the EU. Should all EU member states impose a reciprocal visa on Canadians or undermine the norm of reciprocity and admit that certain member states and bilateral relations are more important than others?

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The Canada-Czech Republic visa dispute two years on. Implications for the EU’s Migration and Asylum Policies

Author(s): Sergio Carrera,Elspeth Guild,Massimo Merlino / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

This paper critically examines the policy implications of the ongoing Canada-Czech Republic visa dispute for the founding principles of the EU’s immigration and asylum policies, notably those of reciprocity and solidarity. It addresses the main challenges posed by the unilateral reintroduction of visa requirements for nationals of the CzechRepublic for the EU’s common visa policy, and for the fundamental rights of European citizens who belong to vulnerable and excluded groups, i.e. Roma, in search of international protection. The new Commission proposal on avisa safeguard clause for suspending visa liberalisation will be also critically examined in this context.

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The Cost of Non-Europe in the Area of Legal Migration

Author(s): Sergio Carrera,Julia Guerin,James Dennison,Meena Fernandes,Nadzeya Laurentsyeva,Zvezda Vankova,Lina Vosyliūtė / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2019

This Research Paper is a contribution to a wider cost-of non-Europe assessment in the Area of Freedom Security and Justice requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties that can be found here. The research takes stock of the state of play in European Union cooperation in the area of legal immigration. The Research Paper identifies gaps and barriers of current sectorial and fragmented EU legal immigration acquis. It assesses their economic impacts and impacts at individual level in terms of fundamental rights protection and non-discrimination laid down in international, regional and EU human rights and labour standards. The research highlights the need for ‘more EU’ in upholding equal treatment standards between third country workers with EU nationals in relation to working and living conditions. The Research Paper elaborates on the potential benefits, cost drivers and feasibility of different policy options for the EU ranging from: better enforcement, to the gradual extension of EU legislation towards other labour market sectors or bringing back to the idea of a Binding Immigration Code. The research concludes that EU internal market, national administrations as well as EU and Third Country Citizens would benefit from more homogenous policy approach in the area of legal migration.

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The Difficult Road to the Schengen Information System II: The legacy of ‘laboratories’ and the cost for fundamental rights and the rule of law

Author(s): Joanna Parkin / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

This paper seeks to understand the reasons behind the considerable complications facing the project to develop a new, second generation version of the Schengen Information System (SISII). Despite the centrality of this large-scale EU database for immigration and border control purposes and the increasing prioritisation of security technologies within the EU’s internal security strategy, the project has encountered substantial delays, an escalating budget, political crises and criticisms of the new system’s potential impact on fundamental rights. To uncover the underlying causes of these difficulties and deficiencies, the paper examines the decision-making processes that have shaped the development of SIS II over the last decade. It argues that there are strong parallels between the policy processes surrounding SIS II and decision-making under the old Schengen regime, where expert driven, security oriented and fragmented decision-making took place outside the EU framework and beyond the reach of democratic and judicial oversight.

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The EU’s Dialogue on Migration, Mobility and Security with the Southern Mediterranean. Filling the Gaps in the Global Approach to Migration

Author(s): Sergio Carrera / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

Recent events in North Africa and the Mediterranean have had consequences in terms of human mobility, and are putting the foundations and components of EU’s migration policy under strain. The forthcoming European Council summit of 23-24 June 2011 is expected to determine ‘the orientations for further work’ under the Polish Presidency and the next JHA Trio Presidency Programme for the EU’s policies on cross-border migration in the Mediterranean and internal mobility within the scope of the Schengen regime. This paper constitutes a contribution to current and future EU policy discussions and responses on migration, mobility and security. It provides a synthesised selection of recommendations in these domains resulting from the research conducted by the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Section of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) during the last nine years of work.

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The EU’s Role in Implementing the UN Global Compact on Refugees. Contained Mobility vs. International Protection

Author(s): Roberto Cortinovis,Sergio Carrera / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2018

The Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), adopted in December 2018 by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, expresses the political will of UN member states and relevant stakeholders to foster responsibility sharing for refugees and their host countries. Among GCR key objectives is that ofexpanding mobility and admission channels for people in search of international protection through resettlement and ‘complementary’ pathways of admission. The GCR provides a reference framework to critically assess European Union (EU) policies in relation to two main issues: first, the role and contribution of the EU and its Member States towards the implementation of the GCR in ways that areloyal to the Compact and EU Treaties guiding principles; second, and more specifically, the main gaps and contested issues of existing resettlement and complementary admission instruments for refugeesand would-be refugees implemented at the EU and Member State levels.

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The European Investigation Order. Travelling without a ‘roadmap’

Author(s): Debbie Sayers / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

The European Investigation Order (EIO) seeks to establish a complete system for obtaining evidence in crossborder cases. It represents a further step in the evolution of the mutual recognition agenda and the deepening of criminal cooperation among member states. It has far-reaching implications for individual rights because of its breadth, its application to individuals who are not suspects and the nature of its invasive provisions. Careful justification is required to ensure legitimacy. In analysing this proposal, this paper considers the following aspects:• the place of the EIO within the mutual recognition programme. It looks at judicial cooperation by way of mutual recognition and the common characteristics shared by such measures. It explores the lessons arising from experience with mutual recognition (specifically the European Arrest Warrant, EAW) and the need for mutual trust; and • the scope of the EIO – what is it and what does it replace? The paper investigates the EIO’s potential scope and application. It asks whether it is really a measure of judicial cooperation and assesses how the EIO departs from existing measures on mutual recognition. It also asks the question, does the EIO go too far? Furthermore, what are the ramifications for human rights? The paper analyses the sufficiency of the safeguards in the EIO. It explores whether the lessons from the EAW have been learnt, e.g. the need for proportionality and the effect of inconsistency in the implementation of human rights standards. It considers whether the Road map for Strengthening Procedural Safe guards will assist and takes into account the views of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights and the European Data Protection Supervisor.

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The Incomprehensible Flow of Roma Asylum-Seekers from the Czech Republic and Hungary to Canada

Author(s): Judit Tóth / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2010

This working paper analyses the flow of Roma migrants, in particular asylum-seekers, from the Czech Republic and Hungary to Canada in 1996–2010. Although the fate of the Roma is at the centre of events, statistics on asylum applications along with an interpretation of the history of migration issues, from the perspectives of both international relations and EU policy, illustrate the classical debate on state sovereignty versus universal or at least European solidarity. They reflect the debate on the binding human rights of fragile groups versus security preconditions and prejudices. This amalgam of migration, visa and asylum policies has affected the lives of Roma and their efforts to achieve equal treatment, integration and citizenship in their country of residence as well as their homeland.

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Towards an Internal (In)security Strategy for the EU?

Author(s): Sergio Carrera,Elspeth Guild / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2011

The European Commission published in November 2010 a Communication aiming at putting the EU Internal Security Strategy (ISS) into action. The Communication envisages five key strategic objectives for the EU’s internal security: disrupt organised crime, prevent terrorism, raise levels of security in cyberspace, strengthen external borders management and increase the EU’s resilience to natural disasters. This paper starts by critically examining the extent to which these objectives actually constitute shared common concerns in all EU27 member states andwhether they are based on independent and objective evidence. After demonstrating the contrary, we then argue that the ISS should be rather considered as an ‘Internal (In)security Strategy’ because of the lack of an accompanying solid rule of law and liberty strategy (model) focused on ensuring the delivery to everyone living in the EU (and who will be subject to increasing EU internal security policies focused on more surveillance, preventive measures and an intelligence-based approach) the twin rights of rule of law and fundamental rights.

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