European parliament votes for visa suspension mechanism

New rules passed by European Parliament on Thursday say that visa requirements for non-EU nationals will be reintroduced faster when EU countries face irregular migration surges or security risks, UNIAN.

EP rapporteur for the proposal, Agustin Diaz de Mera (EPP, ES), said: "We have succeeded in creating a more flexible and operational tool, while ensuring respect for human rights and a key role for the European Parliament. I am confident that following the approval of the suspension mechanism, the Council will cooperate fully to ensure that the proposals to grant visa waivers to Georgia and Ukraine are processed smoothly, given that both countries fulfilled the requested criteria some time ago," according to the European Parliament's press release.

His report was approved by 485 votes to 132 with 21 abstentions.

According to the report, both EU member states and the European Commission will be able to trigger the visa waiver suspension mechanism. However, the text underlines that a decision to temporarily suspend a visa waiver must be based on "relevant and objective data."