For a Europe without borders !

Considering the declining status of these rights, all over Europe, we face the problems with all three aspects. Recent attacks on the freedom of movement, through restrictions in mobility in and to the Schengen Area, are the core issue we would like to stress in this letter to and therefore hereby ask for your consideration.

One of the core ideas carrying the European Union is the belief in the freedom of movement, which needs to go hand in hand with visa liberalization, solidarity and mobility for people in countries of the enhanced partnership. The Schengen Area was founded in order to eliminate the borders in Europe. Nevertheless countries inside the Schengen area are currently denying and proposing to reintroduce border controls! We are increasingly worried by this trend among political leaders, reinforced by media, to criminalize migrations by focusing on repressive policies and border control and to consider that the visa policy is a matter of the individual foreign policy of each Member State. Contrary to some latest Member States’ government statements, the proper management of enhanced migration flows is not the reintroduction of internal borders between Member States, but the communitarization of EU external borders’ protection and the strength of a common EU visa policy.

We condemn the current concerns about national security regarding mobility as a threat, thus forgetting that mobility contributes to the Life Long Learning process, supports the exchange of values between different cultures, leads to enhanced mutual understanding and allows the European labour market. JEF-Europe believes in the mutual benefits generated by mobility and encourages its further setting of incentives to improve and facilitate inner-European mobility as well as the access of non-EU students and researchers through various programmes.

That’s why we also denounce the complicated and long procedures which are still required to obtain a visa or a residence permit for citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Ukraine, and Turkey. The current visa process requires a simplification of the procedures of non-EU residents applying for short-term activities, internships and seminars and a transition towards a visa-free Europe since the current regime is fostering resentment, inhibiting progress on trade, business, education and civil society.

Because of all the above we ask for a Europe without borders. The burden of visa restrictions is a matter of the past and the Schengen agreement is not reversal. Europe should be a place where the freedom of movement should be lived by everyone and not to just by selected Europeans. This is why we call you to support the enlargement of the Schengen area to enhance regional stability and integration and foster economic and social prosperity on the one hand, as well as improve the business climate and educational exchange on the other. The Young European Federalists will always fight against any attempts to keep or re-introduce any border on European soil.