Workshop B: visas for asylum: not under EU law or not at all?

Abstract

While asylum seekers have recourse to smugglers because they cannot travel legally to the EU, the CJEU ruled on 7 March 2017 on the application of a Syrian family for a short-term visa that would have allowed them to travel and apply for asylum in Belgium. The severely criticized decision of the Court in X & X denying its jurisdiction should be scrutinized, including the issue if the refusal of a visa may lead to a violation of non-refoulement in relation with the own initiative report of the European Parliament on humanitarian visas.