CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Paajanen, Mimmu |
|---|---|
| Title | The role of the European Union's visa policy: Comparative case study of visa liberalization in Western Balkans with a special focus on asylum seekers |
| Summary | The purpose of this study is to provide suggestions how the objectives of the European Union‘s visa policy and right of asylum seekers to seek asylum can be balanced when designing visa policies. The main research question is approached by answering three sub-questions. Firstly, the EU‘s objectives and justifications for maintaining a visa policy are reviewed. Secondly, the effects of the EU‘s visa policy on the procedural right of asylum seekers to seek asylum are analyzed by comparing international and European human rights instruments and case law. Thirdly, a comparative case study of visa liberalization in five Western Balkan countries is conducted in order to examine the regulatory efficiency of the EU‘s visa policy. The comparative case study analyzes measurable implications experienced in Finland and in the EU as a whole before and after visa liberalization in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Comparisons are drawn also from other individual EU Member States. The main sources of data in the case study are statistics, national legislations and secondary data. Also political and legal reactions to visa liberalization are discussed. The findings of this study show that the EU‘s current visa policy may not be the most efficient tool to reach the desired objectives and that different types of measures are needed. It is found that the EU‘s objectives tend to take a priority without considering human rights of asylum seekers and in certain situations the visa policy may violate right to seek asylum. This study concludes that the right to control borders must be recognized but within the limitations of international human rights law. |
| Supervisor | Nagy, Boldizsar |
| Department | Legal Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/paajanen_mimmu.pdf |
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