Visados, asilo e inmigración

Abstract: Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland have amended their legislation to respond to the increased migration flows caused by the policies of instrumentalisation of migrants implemented by the Belarusian government. This Insight illustrates these responses and shows how these EU Member States instrumentalised border tensions with Belarus to...

Abstract: In X v Udlændingenævnet, the Court of Justice dealt with a Danish provision requiring a Turkish worker, legally resident in Denmark, to successfully pass a language test as a necessary condition to provide his spouse with a residence permit for the purpose of family reunification. The Court claimed that said legislation...

Abstract: The global reform of the EU migration policy envisaged in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum is stalling. The increased number of arrivals from Belarus gave the European Commission the opportunity to change its approach in attempting to reform the European migration management. The Belarus crisis, influenced by the active involvement of...

Abstract: In recent years the EU and its Member States have claimed to be increasingly targeted by “weaponised” migration. Due to the contemporary sensitivity of migration-related issues in the EU, neighbouring states are supposedly using the threat of increased migration to force the Union’s hand in other policy areas. Below, several recent...

Abstract: A series of challenges and crises have highlighted the deficits of the ‘Schengen Αrea’ both regarding its external and internal borders. This resulted in the undermining of trust between the Member States which is essential to sustain an area free from internal borders. Thus, the EU Commission presented in December 2021 new rules to...

Abstract: Art. 2(2)(a) of the Directive 2008/115/EC (Return Directive) provides the conditions whereby the Member States can derogate from some provisions of the directive itself. An amendment to remove this clause is under discussion before the European Parliament, as part of the negotiations on the directive’s recast. Derogations from the scope of...

Abstract: This Insight aims to illustrate common elements between the Lithuanian and European Union reaction following the “instrumentalisation of migrants” by Belarus. The most critical aspects with respect to national reforms and the Proposal presented by the Commission in December 2021 – ex art. 78(3) TFEU – shed light on specific issues...

Abstract: The migration crisis at the EU-Belorussian border is escalating and the potential for grave human rights violations against third country-nationals stuck between the two “titans” is more and more likely to materialize. This Insight aims to provide an overview of the emergency measures that have been adopted at the national and EU...

Abstract: The Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) is one of the most controversial pieces of EU legislation. Adopted back in 2001 and never implemented, it has been at the margins of EU migration and asylum policies until, on 3 March 2022, the Home Affairs Ministers of the EU27 reached an “historic agreement” on its activation. This Insight...

Abstract: Third country nationals are in a “weak” position when it comes to issuing a uniform Schengen short-term visa. The EU acquis on visas, and most notably the Visa Code, is still a domain strongly marked by State sovereignty, wide margin of appreciation and scarce transparency in the decision-making process. The EU Court of Justice...