Ebook: Visa Policy within the European Union Structure

The book focuses on the common visa policy as a case study on the constitutional structure of the European Union. After introducing the nature of visas, the book concentrates on the difficulties in forging a common visa policy at European level. Cooperation on visas has been characterized by a continuous reformulation of the framework for cooperation. The book describes cooperation before the Treaty on European Union adopted at Maastricht, under the Maastricht Treaty, and under the Treaty of Amsterdam. Furthermore, the book traces the essential characteristics of the common visa policy – restrictiveness, flexibility and dependency on activity under the intergovernmental Pillars –, relating these to the nature of the EU and considering the working of the EU pillar structure in this context. The working of the pillar structure is also considered in relation to some of the Union’s efforts to build an "area of freedom, security and justice".