WIREDGOV

The Council yesterday adopted an implementing decision increasing the visa fee applied to nationals of The Gambia to €120, seeking to improve The Gambia’s cooperation on the return and readmission of its own nationals.

The decision is a response to the lack of substantial and sustained improvement in cooperation on readmission with The Gambia. In particular, cooperation on identification and return remains challenging, the timeframe set by the EU-Gambia readmission arrangement has not been adhered to, and a unilateral moratorium on returns by charter flights remained in place until March 2022.

This decision comes on top of the measures already adopted by the Council in October 2021.

Background

The European Council and the Council have repeatedly highlighted the need to achieve real progress on return and readmission. They have called for consideration of the use of all necessary leverage, including visa policy.

In 2019, the EU updated the visa code and introduced a mechanism which makes it possible to use visa processing as leverage in cooperation with third countries on readmission. The first Commission assessment under the new mechanism was adopted on 10 February 2021. On the basis of this assessment, the Council decided to temporarily suspend the application of certain provisions of the visa code to nationals of The Gambia due to the country’s lack of cooperation on readmission.

The temporarily suspended provisions include the suspension of the possibility of waiving requirements with regard to the documents to be submitted by applicants, the suspension of the shorter processing period, the suspension of issuing of multiple entry visas and the suspension of the optional visa fee waiver for holders of diplomatic and service passports.

In its second assessment under the visa code mechanism the Commission concluded that, despite the measures adopted, The Gambia’s cooperation on readmission continues to be insufficient, and further action is needed.

• Council implementing decision on the application of an increased visa fee with respect to The Gambia

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