PURPOSE: to sign
and conclude a Readmission Agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the Community.
PROPOSED ACT:
Council Decision.
BACKGROUND:
the 2003 Thessaloniki Summit on the Western Balkans recognised the importance
of giving due recognition to matters concerning illegal immigration and the
issuing of visas. The “Thessaloniki Agenda”, accordingly recognised the need
for the EU to conclude Readmission Agreements with the countries of the
Western Balkans, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. In November 2006 the Council
formally authorised the Commission to negotiate a Readmission Agreement with
Bosnia and Herzegovina to be negotiated alongside an Agreement on the
issuance of short-stay visas. See CNS/2007/0140. The Member States have been regularly
informed and consulted throughout the negotiating process.
CONTENT: the
purpose of this proposal, therefore, is to request the Council to sign and
conclude an Agreement between the Community and Bosnia-Herzegovina on
Readmission. The Commission is of the view that the objectives set by the
Council in its negotiating Directives have been attained and that the draft
Readmission Agreement is acceptable to the Community. The draft Agreement
with Bosnia and Herzegovina has been, as far as possible, harmonised with the
draft Readmission Agreements of the other Western Balkans countries.
The main
elements of the proposal can be summarised as follows:
- the
Agreement has been divided into eight sections with 23 Articles. It
contains seven Annexes and four Declarations, all of which form an
integral part of the overall Agreement;
- the
readmission obligations are fully reciprocal and comprise of own
nationals, third country nationals and stateless persons – including
those of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the former nationals of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who have acquired no other
nationality;
- this obligation
to readmit own nationals extends to former own national who have
renounced, or who have been deprived of, their nationality without
acquiring the nationality of another State;
- the
obligation to readmit own nationals covers family members (i.e. spouses
and minor unmarried children) who hold a nationality other than the
person to be readmitted and who do not have an independent right of
residence in the Requesting State;
- the
obligation to readmit third country nationals and stateless persons is
linked to a number of prerequisites, such as: the person concerned
holds, or at the time of entry held, a valid visa or resident permit
issued by the Requested State; or the person concerned illegally and
directly entered the territory of the Requesting State after having
stayed on or transited through he territory of the Requested State.
Those in airside transit and all persons to whom the Requesting State has issued a visa or residence authorisation before or after entry to
its territory are exempted from these obligations;
- former
nationals of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who have
acquired no other nationality will be treated as a separate category. It
is proposed that their readmission will be accepted by Bosnia and
Herzegovina on condition that firstly, their place of birth was on
Bosnia and Herzegovina territory and secondly their place of permanent
residence on the date of independence (6 April 1992) was on the
territory of that State. It is worth noting that the specific conditions
for the readmission of this category of person was applied horizontally
in all of the Readmission Agreement with the other Western Balkan
countries;
- Bosnia and
Herzegovina agree to accept the use of the
EU’s standard travel documents for expulsion purposes – both for own
nationals as well as for third country nationals or stateless persons;
- Section III
sets out the necessary technical provisions regarding the readmission
procedure. The time limit for replies for all readmission applications
is 10 calendar days with the right to an extension of up to 6 calendar
days in duly motivated cases;
- a section on
transit operations is foreseen as are sections on costs, data protection
and relationship to other international obligations;
- Bosnia and
Herzegovina as well as individual Member States will be allowed to conclude bilateral implementing Protocols.
The United Kingdom and Ireland have notified their wish to take part in the adoption and application of
this Agreement. Denmark, however, will not.