Protecting borders or protecting users? Politicization and depoliticization of the Visa Code reform (2014-2019) »

Do supranational institutions have the capacity to advocate for the rights of non-citizens? This paper focuses on the role of the European Commission and Parliament in negotiating the common short-term visa policy, intended as “compensatory measure for freedom of movement” by the Member States. By discussing the notion of a “liberal constraint” exercised by these institutions on the securitized approach of the Council, this paper explores the (unsuccessful) efforts to introduce legal provisions in favor of visa applicants during the Common Visa Code reform (2014-2019). Using the concept of political work and qualitative methods (institutional text analysis and semi-directed interviews), the paper scrutinizes the politicization of the Visa Code reform and its lengthy adoption process through the lens of power dynamics between actors and their divergent conceptions of the visa policy. The main political actors analyzed include the European Commission (DG Home’s Visa Unit), the European Parliament (LIBE committee), and the Council of Ministers (Visa working party), each advocating distinct visions of the visa policy and forming shifting coalitions throughout the five-year legislative journey. While the European Commission initially attempted to de-politicized the Visa Code recast by including pro-market measures, the paper shows how the Council one the one hand, and the Parliament on the other, capitalized on the “refugee crisis” to re-politicize the reform in opposite ways. To enable asylum seekers to safely access European territory, left-wing MEP advocated to create a specific common humanitarian visa, whereas Member States stuck to conservative and security-oriented frame of the common visa policy, to enhance the level of border control. The sociological research underlying this study therefore sheds light on the “political work” of supranational institutions, as well as the institutional and circumstantial limitations that hinder their liberal constraint, ultimately reinforcing the conservative stance embraced by Member States.