Report on the issuance of visas at the borders, including the issuance of such visas to passing seafarers.

Presenter: Anna Karamanou

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

INTERVENTION OF ANNA KARAMANOU IN THE PLENARY

OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

11 February 2003

Mr. President, I would like to inform the Body that my report concerns Spain’s initiative, which aims to simplify procedures and minimize the bureaucracy of Schengen through the possibility of issuing collective visas at the external borders for sailors, in order to facilitate the member states that have a naval fleet.

My report significantly improves the initial proposal, as it ensures the protection of citizens’ individual rights and personal data in accordance with the relevant Schengen provisions, upon which the regulation under discussion is based.

In addition, my report changes the wording of the text so that the language is gender-neutral, as we know that many women

The most important thing is that we rejected the criterion of common nationality, as there is no sufficient justification for requiring seafarers to have the same nationality in order to be granted a collective visa.

The report therefore proposes the granting of a short-term collective visa to a group of seafarers, ranging from five to fifty individuals, even if they are not of the same nationality. This is intended to facilitate European shipping.