Visa torture on the EU agenda: ‘Schengen refusals increased by 300 percent

Visa torture is on the EU agenda: ‘Schengen refusals increased by 300 percent

Turkey submitted the report it prepared on the visa problem in Schengen applications, which are entry visas to EU countries, to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The visa problem experienced by the citizens of the Republic of Turkey when entering the European Union member countries was presented to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in the form of a report. The report will be discussed at the PACE General Assembly.

According to the report, Schengen visa refusals, which were 4 percent in 2014, increased to 12,7 percent in 2020.

According to the news of Nuray Babacan from Hürriyet; In the report, issues such as unnecessary and too many documents are requested, the fee is high, and the obligation to apply face-to-face were objected to.

The discussion of the report “Abuse of the Schengen Information System as a Politically Driven Sanction by the Member States of the Council of Europe” was held in Strasbourg last week at the PACE. The report submitted by AKP Member and AKP Deputy Ziya Altunyaldız was accepted by the commission.

The report will be presented to the General Assembly and will become a recommendation.

The following comments were included in the report:

It was stated that there is no common standard in the information requested and it was stated that “the use of the information in the system should not violate human rights, the right to respect for private and family life, the right to freedom of travel.”

In addition, in the statement that drew attention to the fact that the rate of rejection increased 3 times, it was emphasized that business people and those who want to engage in commercial activities also have problems even though they offer transportation and accommodation.”

In the report submitted to Europe, problems such as ‘requesting unnecessary and too many documents, high fees, issuing single-entry and short-term visas, issuing the visa after the purpose of going is gone, the obligation to apply face-to-face’ regarding the visa processes of Turkish citizens were listed. .