PURPOSE:
to sign and conclude a Readmission Agreement between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and the Community.
LEGISLATIVE
ACT: Council Decision 2007/817/EC on the conclusion of the Agreement between the
European Community and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on the
readmission of persons residing without authorisation.
CONTENT:
the main elements of the Agreement can be summarised as follows:
- the Agreement has
been divided into eight sections with 23 Articles. It contains seven
Annexes and six 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 the FYROM
and the former nationals of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
who have acquired no other nationality. A joint declaration concerning
the deprivation of nationality is attached to the proposed Agreement;
- 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 the FYROM on condition that
firstly, their place of birth was on FYROM’s territory and secondly
their place of permanent residence on the date of independence (8
September 1991) 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;
- the FYROM agrees
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. One important procedural element regarding this proposal is
the so-called “accelerated” procedure, which has been agreed upon
for persons apprehended in the border region i.e. within an area which
extends up to 30 km from the common land border between a Member State and the FYROM or within the territories of International airports of
Member States of the FYROM. Under the accelerated procedure, readmission
applications have to be submitted, and replies have to given, within 2
working days, whereas under the normal procedure the time limit for
replies is 14 calendar days;
- a section on
transit operations is foreseen as are sections on costs, data protection
and relationship to other international obligations;
- the FYROM, 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.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: the
agreement will enter into force when the necessary formalities have been
concluded and on the same date as the parallel agreement on the issuance of
short-stay visas (see CNS/2007/0159).