There is no legal way under current European Union law to adopt a citizenship-based ban on entering the Schengen zone, our Research Affiliate Sarah Ganty, Dimitry Kochenov, lead researcher of our Rule of Law Workgroup and Suryapratim Roy (Trinity College Dublin) argue in their article in the Yale Journal of International Law.
“The de facto national-level ban against Russian citizens introduced by Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States breaches EU law,” they claim, adding that “amending the law to allow for a citizenship-based ban goes against the core values the Union is based upon, pitting populist proposals against the rule of law. References to “wholly exceptional circumstances” would not help either.”
“Any proposal to ban Russian citizens’ entry would prevent dissenters and deserters, who are unwilling to contribute to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war, from seeking refuge in EU territory and imply impermissible discrimination. It is no surprise that such a proposal was defeated in the Council of the EU,” they write.
Read the full article here.
