Guinea refuses to readmit irregular migrants; the EU suspends visas

Brussels – No repatriation? No visas. The European Union has imposed political and administrative sanctions on Guinea for failing to cooperate on the readmission of nationals present on EU territory without being entitled to be there. 

The Council of the EU has decided to “temporarily restrict visa provision for Guinean nationals,” the EU institution said. The measure “follows an assessment by the Commission, based on the member states’ input, which concludes that cooperation by Guinea on readmitting its nationals staying irregularly in the EU is insufficient,” it added.

 For this reason, all 27 EU Member States will no longer issue multiple-entry visas to Guinean nationals and will no longer grant exemptions from the documentation requirements that visa applicants from Guinea must provide. Furthermore, as a result of the EU sanctions, the exemption from visa fees for holders of diplomatic and service passports is suspended. In addition, the standard processing time for visa applications will be set at 45 calendar days, instead of 15.

Europe is choosing a retaliatory path, a move that the approval of the returns regulation does not seem to justify. Today’s European Union seems to have developed a taste for imposing sanctions, as shown in its handling of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, to which the EU responded with restrictive measures and announced its intention to continue doing so. It’s a line not unlike that of Donald Trump’s United States, which carries out commercial retaliation against those who do not behave as the US president would like.