EU visa policy: What kind of solidarity?

• Annalisa Meloni ^[1]
  1. [1] University of East London

     University of East London

     Reino Unido

     
• Localización: Maastricht journal of European and comparative law, ISSN 1023-263X, Vol. 24, Nº. 5, 2017 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Searching for solidarity in the EU asylum and border policies: Constitutional and operational dimensions), págs. 646-666
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In the absence of any clear indication in the EU Treaties as to what solidarity entails, three visions of solidarity have emerged: supranational/functional, intergovernmental/voluntary and an individual-focused/constructivist vision. Following the case of X and X v. Belgium and the link between visa policy and the EU’s questionable strategy of externalizing international protection, it can be concluded that visa policy is characterized by the absence of individual-focused solidarity, and it does not offer any expression of the central place that human rights protection has in the EU’s identity. This may be partly reconnected to the unclear scope of the fundamental rights protection framework that is applicable to visas under international law. Visa policy is characterized by inter-state and state-centred solidarity which takes a supranational form in policy formulation and an intergovernmental form in implementation. Supranational solidarity has not proven necessarily effective in overcoming divergences between the Member States in sovereignty sensitive areas, or capable of doing so in a way that upholds EU principles. Intergovernmental solidarity in implementation is functionally driven and progressively characterized by EU norms and procedures, but it is unlikely that the search for effectiveness will lead to the supranationalization of this sovereignty sensitive field.