Exclusive: EU visa rule change set to target Israeli citizens

Euronews

10 hours ago

Police officers in England and Wales will be required to collect ethnicity and nationality data in cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation after a review found the issue had been 'shied away' from.
The UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced that this would become a mandatory requirement as she accepted all 12 recommendations made by Louise Casey in her audit on group-based child sexual abuse on Monday.
Casey noted that the term 'group-based child sexual exploitation' sanitised what the victims – some as young as 11 – had suffered, with abused children suffering beatings, gang rapes, being impregnated by their abusers and having children removed from them at birth.
The perpetrators targeted girls from vulnerable backgrounds, including children in care, children with physical and mental disabilities, and children who had suffered neglect or abuse.
The recommendation to collect targeted information was made after the review found that there was a paucity of data nationally concerning the ethnicity of perpetrators of group-based child sexual abuse – sometimes known as 'grooming gangs' – and their victims.
It stated that this meant there was insufficient information to draw conclusions on the national level.
However, Casey found that in three local policing areas – Greater Manchester, West and South Yorkshire – there was sufficient evidence to show that there were 'disproportionate numbers of men from Asian ethnic backgrounds amongst suspects for group-based child sexual exploitation'.
This is the case for group-based child sexual exploitation in the local data examined, the review noted, while more broadly across child sexual exploitation cases, the ethnicity profile is much closer to that of the local population.
The issue of ethnicity is the most sensitive and controversial aspect of the audit, and Cooper said she had requested that this be the focus of the analysis.
'While much more robust national data is needed, we cannot and must not shy away from these findings, because, as Baroness Casey says, ignoring the issues, not examining and exposing them to the light, allows the criminality and depravity of a minority of men to be used to marginalise whole communities,' Cooper said.
'The vast majority of people in our British, Asian and Pakistani heritage communities continue to be appalled by these terrible crimes and agree that the criminal minority of sick predators and perpetrators in every community must be dealt with robustly by a criminal law.'
As well as failing victims, neglecting the possible role of the factor of ethnicity 'plays into the hands of groups with divisive political agendas not to examine or deal with these issues conclusively,' Casey wrote in the review.
Perpetrators groomed vulnerable girls with gifts and attention before passing them to other men to rape and using alcohol, drugs and violence to keep them compliant and control them.
The audit noted that 'the grooming process is now as likely to start online, and hotspots might have moved from parks to vape shops and the use of hotels with anonymous check-in facilities'.
Too often, child victims were blamed for their own abuse and 'criminalised for offences they committed while being groomed,' Casey said.
She recommended that the law be tightened to clarify that children cannot consent when they have been raped, so that adults who penetrate a child under 16 (the UK age of consent) receive mandatory charges of rape.
While this already is the case for children below 13, she noted that cases are sometimes dropped or charges downgraded if the 13 to 15-year-old is said to have been 'in love with' or 'had consented to' sex with the perpetrator.
Among other recommendations, Casey also called for the gathering of ethnicity and nationality data in child sexual abuse cases be made mandatory, and the review of criminal convictions of victims of child sexual exploitation.
The scandal from more than a decade ago returned to the political agenda after Elon Musk made a series of social media posts about it in January, wading in after it emerged that the UK safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, rejected a request for a government-led inquiry, instead saying it should be commissioned locally.
It is an issue that has been examined before, with a report by Professor Alexis Jay in 2014 estimating that some 1,400 children were sexually exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013, predominantly by men of Pakistani descent.
That report identifies failings by authorities and the police, and also cites local authority officials describing their 'nervousness' at identifying the 'ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought racist.'
Labour initially rejected calls for another inquiry, as successive Conservative governments had implemented none of the recommendations made in the last national inquiry.
The government has now bowed to pressure to launch another national inquiry, despite Jay saying in January that victims "want action" rather than another inquiry.
Israel is set to be one of the first countries targeted by a reform of the mechanism to suspend short-stay visa-free travel into the EU and Schengen countries agreed on Tuesday by the European Parliament and the Council according to European Parliament sources.
The new rules amend the grounds for suspending visa free schemes to include violations of human rights, which could lead to the imposition of mandatory visas for Israeli citizens, among others, sources from the Parliament familiar with the dossier told Euronews.
Currently nationals from 61 countries - including the Australia, Brazil, Israel, Japan, UK, Ukraine and the Western Balkan states - may travel to the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
The EU can suspend the visa-free regime under specific conditions. So far this has happened only once — with the Republic of Vanuatu — due to its citizenship-by-investment scheme, which granted wealthy Russians Vanuatan passports allowing free travel into the EU.
Under the new agreement between EU lawmakers and member states, the suspension mechanism will now be easier to trigger however, as the thresholds have been lowered and new criteria added.
For example, violations of the United Nations Charter, severe breaches of international human rights or humanitarian law, and non-compliance with international court decisions will now be valid grounds for suspending a country's visa-free status.
'This tool helps us deliver the values that have built our community and allows us to enforce human rights and respect for international law,' Slovenian MEP Matjaž Nemec, the rapporteur for the bill in Parliament, told Euronews. 'No specific country is being targeted,' he added.
However, Israel's status is among countries most at risk of having its status challenged under the new procedure, Parliament sources told Euronews, due to accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in its war on Gaza — allegations that have been raised by the UN. Serbia is another likely to be targeted, due to human rights concerns highlighted by the UN, the sources said.
Under the procedure, the European Commission has to issue an implementing act to suspend the visa-free scheme for a particular country for one year. This decision only requires approval by the member states, and can be blocked by a qualified majority. To extend the suspension, the Commission must issue a delegated act, which can instead be blocked by either the Council or the Parliament.
Countries in the Schengen area — which includes all EU states except Cyprus, Ireland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland — may also push the Commission to start the procedure, by notifying that they believe the conditions for triggering the mechanism are met. The Parliament may also propose a non-binding resolution recommending suspension of a country's visa-free status.
'It is more likely that an EU member state would raise the issue of Israel, rather than the Parliament,' a source familiar with the matter told Euronews, adding that several political groups in the Parliament pushed for the inclusion of human rights violations with Israel in mind.
Among other legislative changes included in the bill are new provisions related to migration. Currently, a substantial increase in the number of people of a specific nationality staying irregularly in the Schengen area or a rise in asylum seekers from a country with a low recognition rate can justify suspending the visa-free regime.
Under the reform, the threshold for assessing an increase in irregular stays will be lowered from 50% to 30% of the previous period's number. Meanwhile, the threshold for a "low recognition rate" of asylum applications will be raised from the current 4% to 20%. This would broaden the spectrum of the countries involved and would ease triggering the mechanism.
Indeed the changes aim to send a message to countries benefiting from visa-free access, encouraging them to reduce migration to the EU. 'The Polish presidency, which leads the Council, pushed hard for this reform because of strong ambitions among member states. That's why we were able to reach an agreement today,' said Matjaž Nemec.
The deal reached on Tuesday still needs to be formally adopted by both the Parliament and the Council before becoming EU law.
The Israeli weapons company Rafael has announced plans to sue the French government after its stand at the Paris Air Show was abruptly shut down due to Israel's campaign in Gaza.
Since Monday morning, four Israeli stands, including Rafael, Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and UVision, have been hidden behind black wooden panels.
French authorities determined that 'offensive weapons equipment marketed by the firms could not be exhibited, given the situation in Gaza.'
Rafael, Elbit, and IAI produce guided bombs and missiles while UVision manufactures drones.
Faced with the companies' refusal to remove the equipment, the booths were fenced off during the night from Sunday to Monday.
'This morning, an official from the fair came over and told me that if I would remove some of the equipment, then he would tear down these walls. And I told him, I will not remove anything. You had enough time to make the decision, but you decided to act in the dark of night,' said Shlomo Toaff, Executive Vice President at Rafael.
Technicians were seen on Tuesday morning adding further barricades to seal off the entrance to one of the booths, as no agreement was reached between Israeli manufacturers and the show's organisers.
Meanwhile, a heavy security presence was seen patrolling the cordoned-off area on Tuesday.
'I assure you that we will sue the French government for what they have done to us,' Toaff told Euronews.
'We are going to sue them for causing financial damage, for not giving us access to the property that we had rented. We think this is an unjust decision. We're not getting equal rights like the other exhibitors," he said.
The Rafael representative told Euronews they rented the booth a year in advance and submitted blueprints months ago. Their equipment cleared French customs about a month prior to the exhibition, they claim.
'We invested a lot of money in getting this booth and a lot of effort in preparing for it. I can't tell you the exact cost, but we're talking millions of euros," said Toaff.
French authorities say the firms displayed 'offensive' weapons in violation of the pre-agreed framework with the Israeli government.
'France considers that this is a terrible situation for the Gazans, a situation from a human and humanitarian point of view, from a security point of view, extremely heavy,' French Prime Minister François Bayrou told reporters on Monday after inaugurating the show.
'France wanted to demonstrate that offensive weapons should not be present in this show.'
The Israeli Ministry of Defence condemned 'this scandalous and unprecedented decision' in a press release published on Monday.
'I was totally disappointed,' said Sasson Meshar, Senior VP for Airborne Electro-Optics Systems at Elbit. 'We invested a lot of money in the exhibition.'
'We don't understand the logic of the decision, because from our perspective, it's discrimination, because everybody around is showing the same systems. It's a defence, military system, and that's what we are showing. We are not all here for some kind of flower exhibition.'
'We will consult with legal advisors, and we will follow their advice, and we'll consider our next stages later on,' Meshar said, evading the question of whether Elbit is considering following Rafael in the lawsuit.
This isn't the first time Israeli arms manufacturers have faced restrictions at French defence shows.
After initially being banned from the Eurosatory exhibition in spring 2024, they were later allowed to attend Euronaval last fall following a court ruling.
On June 10, a Paris court rejected a request by several associations to ban Israeli companies from this year's Paris Air Show.
The 2025 edition is taking place against the backdrop of intensifying diplomatic tensions between Paris and Tel Aviv.
Israel is facing intense criticism over its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, launched in response to the 2023 Hamas attack. The death toll in Gaza is estimated to exceed 55,000 according to the Hamas-run Gazan Health Ministry. More than 1,800 Israelis have been killed as a result of the fighting.