Access to Europe in a globalised world : assessing the EU’s common visa policy in the light of the Stockholm guidelines

Abstract

This paper is written against the background of the on-going evaluation of the EU Visa Code and an emerging paradigm shift in EU visa policy with visas becoming a tool for economic growth and job creation. The paper analyses, more particularly, current challenges for the proper functioning of the EU’s common visa policy by focusing on the three pillars on which this policy is based: its cornerstone, the Visa Code; consular cooperation on the ground, as an indispensable supplement of the latter; and, finally, the Visa Facilitation Agreements, a potential tool for its smooth operation in certain countries. Due to the limited mid-term review of the Stockholm Programme, initially foreseen for 2012, the Stockholm guidelines for visa policy are integrated in the relevant analysis.