Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to adopted text

RemovedDRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

AddedP9_TA(2024)0336

Changedon the draft for a Council directive amending Directive (EU) 2015/637 on the coordination and cooperation measuresMeasures to facilitate consular protection for unrepresented citizens of the Union in third countries and Directive (EU) 2019/997 establishing an EU Emergency Travel Document

Removed(COM(2023)0930 – C100027/2026 – 2023/0441(CNS))

AddedCommittee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

AddedPE759.050

AddedEuropean Parliament legislative resolution of 24 April 2024 on the proposal for a Council directive amending Directive (EU) 2015/637 on the coordination and cooperation measures to facilitate consular protection for unrepresented citizens of the Union in third countries and Directive (EU) 2019/997 establishing an EU Emergency Travel Document (COM(2023)0930 – C9-0015/2024 – 2023/0441(CNS))

(Special legislative procedure – consultation)

The European Parliament,

Changed– having regard to the CouncilCommission draftproposal (05760/2026),to the Council (COM(2023)0930),

Changed– having regard to Article 23(2)23(2), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C100027/2026),(C90015/2024),

Changed– having regard to Rule 8482 of its Rules of Procedure,

Changed– having regard to the opinionopinions of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Legal Affairs,

Changed– having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A100000/2026),(A9-0178/2024),

▸5 unchanged paragraphs

1. Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, in accordance with Article 293(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;

3. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

4. Asks the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to substantially amend the Commission proposal;

5. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

Change 1

AddedRecital 1 a (new): (1a) The scope of the Directive (EU) 2015/637 should also be extended, beyond Union citizens, to all other persons legally entitled to the consular protection of a Member State to allow such persons to receive this protection from another Member State under the same conditions as unrepresented citizens. This category of persons may include recognised refugees, stateless persons and other persons who do not hold the nationality of any country, persons legally residing in a Member State and who are holders of a travel document issued by that Member State, and persons enjoying temporary protection.

AddedRecital 2: (2) Crises resulting in requests for consular protection are increasing in frequency and scale. The COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis in Afghanistan in 2021, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the conflict in Sudan, the repatriations from Israel and Gaza, the multiplying humanitarian crises and natural and human made disasters and other similar crises have provided a context to identify gaps and reflect on how to further facilitate the exercise of the right to consular protection. The Union's capacity to respond to these ongoing multiplying crises should be reinforced, addressing any shortcoming and strengthening our preparedness, information-gathering and decision-making capacity ahead of and during crises. Drawing lessons from those experiences, and in order to simplify procedures for citizens and consular authorities, the rules and procedures of Directive (EU) 2015/637 should be clarified and streamlined so as to improve the effectiveness of the provision of consular protection to unrepresented citizens of the Union, in particular in crisis situations. Best use should be made of the available resources at Member State and Union level, both locally in third countries and at capital level.

AddedRecital 4: (4) To improve legal certainty for consular authorities and citizens, it is appropriate to lay down more detailed criteria that aid in the assessment whether a Union citizen is to be considered as unrepresented and thus eligible to receive consular protection from the Member State whose consular authorities have been approached. Those criteria should be sufficiently pragmatic, flexible and applied in light of local circumstances, such as ease of travel or security situation in the third country concerned. In this context, accessibility and proximity and safety should remain important considerations.

AddedRecital 5: (5) As first criterion, consular authorities should take into account the difficulty for citizens to safely reach or be reached by the embassy or consulate of their Member State of nationality within 48 hours, taking into account the nature and urgency of the assistance requested and the means, notably financial resources, available to them. While the appropriate period of time will depend on the particularities of each assistance request, the period for citizens to safely reach or be reached by the embassy or consulate of their Member State should in any case not exceed 48 hours. For example, the need for an EU Emergency Travel Document as a result of the loss of travel documents should, in principle, result in the citizen being considered as unrepresented if reaching the embassy or consulate of his or her Member State of nationality would require overnight or air travel, as he or she cannot be expected to travel under such circumstances.

AddedRecital 7: (7) The notion of absence of representation should be interpreted with a view to ensuring the effectiveness of the right to consular protection. Where, by redirecting the citizen to the embassy or consulate of his or her Member State of nationality, consular protection would likely be compromised, in particular where the urgency of the matter requires immediate action by the requested embassy or consulate, the citizen should also be considered as unrepresented. This is particularly relevant in crisis situations, where lack of timely assistance might have particularly negative impacts on the citizen. Furthermore, a significant reduction in the staff of the embassy or consulate, which may significantly affect the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations, should be taken into account as it could further exacerbate the challenges faced by citizens seeking consular assistance.

AddedRecital 11: (11) Applications should not be transferred if consular protection would thereby be compromised, in particular if the urgency of the matter requires immediate action by the embassy or consulate of the Member State approached. That could be the case, for example, in cases of serious medical emergencies or seemingly arbitrary or politically motivated arrests. In addition, unrepresented citizens should be kept informed about any such transfers.

AddedRecital 13: (13) When providing consular protection to unrepresented citizens, Member States should take into account an intersectional approach to the specific needs of vulnerable groups, such as unaccompanied minors, victims of force marriage or marital captivity who should be provided with legal and psychological support, pregnant women, persons with reduced mobility, elderly people, persons with disabilities or individuals at risk of discrimination on any ground such as those referred to in Article 21 of the Charter

AddedRecital 19: (19) In order to ensure preparedness regarding possible consular crises requiring the provision of assistance to unrepresented citizens - including natural disasters, political unrest or terrorist attacks -, local consular cooperation among Member States and Union delegations in third countries should include exchanges on matters relevant to such citizens, including their security and safety, the establishment of joint consular contingency plans and mechanisms for quick response, and the organisation of consular exercises. In this context, it can be particularly relevant for the consular authorities of unrepresented Member States to be included in such local consular cooperation when coordinating on consular crisis preparedness and response.

AddedRecital 23: (23) Joint consular contingency plans should also take into account, where appropriate, the roles and responsibilities of Lead States, that is, Member States represented in a given third country that are in charge of coordinating and leading the assistance of unrepresented citizens during crises, to ensure the effective coordination of consular assistance. In addition, joint consular contingency plans should be evaluated annually or more frequently if there are extraordinary circumstances that require so, in the context of consular exercises to ensure their continued relevance. At the same time, joint consular contingency plans should not be understood as replacing existing national crisis plans of Member States or affecting their responsibility to provide consular assistance to their own nationals, but as a coherent approach that can additionally help to coordinate the efforts of the represented Member States.

AddedRecital 25: (25) Travel advice, that is, information issued by Member States about the relative safety of travelling to specific third countries, should be regularly updated in order to enable travellers to make an informed decision about a particular travel destination, including third countries where their Member State of nationality is not represented. While the issuance of travel advice is the responsibility of Member States, it is appropriate that they coordinate on that topic, notably in the context of crises, with a view to ensuring consistency in the level of advice given. This could include agreeing on a common structure of the levels of risk indicated in travel advice, making use of the secure platform of the EEAS. Such coordination should take place at an early stage when Member States are planning to change the level of their travel advice.

AddedRecital 26: (26) Efficient coordination is vital to ensure effective crisis response. To ensure such coordination, Member States have to be supported and receive timely information by the Crisis Response Centre of the EEAS and the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of the Commission. Coordinated Union crisis response is particularly important in cases requiring evacuations to ensure that available support is provided quickly and efficiently, and that best use is made of available evacuation capacities. For that reason, first-hand and relevant information, such as on available evacuation capacity for instance, should be shared in a timely manner to be able to react rapidly and effectively, including in case of rescue and evacuation operations using military assets. In this regard, the EEAS should be able to receive automatic and continuous information from Member States on the situation in third countries

AddedRecital 28: (28) Joint consular teams should be based on the principles of solidarity with represented Member States, equality with regard to decisions on internal working structures, simplicity regarding composition of teams, cost-sharing – with each Member State, Union institution or body bearing its own operational costs – flexibility, visibility of the coordinated Union response and openness to relevant third countries.

AddedRecital 30: (30) To support Union citizens in need, it is important to provide them with reliable and easily accessible information on how to avail themselves of consular assistance in third countries, including digital contact options. The Commission services and the EEAS should disseminate in close coordination with Member States relevant information, including information to be provided by Member States on their consular networks and third countries where they have concluded practical arrangements on sharing responsibilities for providing consular protection to unrepresented citizens. To facilitate the processing of such information, it should be provided in machine-readable format.

AddedRecital 30 a (new): (30a) Member States should ensure that citizens have easy access to up-to date information regarding consular protection. In this regard, EU citizens should receive prompt notifications regarding their rights and procedures for exercising them while in third countries, particularly during crisis situations.

AddedRecital 31: (31) Member States should take additional measures to further contribute to raising Union citizen’s awareness of their right to consular protection, also taking into account the specific needs of persons with disabilities. Given the limited costs it entails Member States should reproduce the wording of Article 23 TFEU in passports issued by Member States as a way to enhance citizens’ awareness of the right to protection by diplomatic and consular authorities, as already recommended by Commission Recommendation C(2007) 58415 . Member States should also feature information on the right to consular protection enjoyed by unrepresented citizens in travel advice and campaigns relating to consular assistance. They should also cooperate with passenger transport service providers and transport hubs offering travel to third countries, for example by inviting them to add relevant information on the right to consular protection to the information materials made available to customers.

AddedRecital 32: (32) The financial provisions of Directive (EU) 2015/637 should be adapted to simplify reimbursements and continue ensuring financial burden-sharing. In particular, it should be possible for unrepresented citizens to directly reimburse costs, under the same conditions as nationals of the assisting Member State, for the service provided by that Member State to avoid the administrative burden resulting from seeking reimbursements from the citizen’s Member State of nationality. In addition, Member States should also be allowed to waive the charging of such costs. As, in certain situations, unrepresented citizens may not be able to pay when making the request for assistance, notably when their cash and means to access funds have been stolen, it is necessary to provide that they may be required by the consular authorities of the assisting Member State to sign an undertaking to repay. On the basis of such an undertaking, the authorities of the assisting Member State may ask for the reimbursement of the costs once three months have passed since the assistance was provided

AddedRecital 33: (33) In cases where the costs have not been repaid by the citizen directly, that is, neither immediately when making the request or at a later stage when having been requested to do so by the assisting Member State on the basis of the undertaking to repay, the assisting Member State should be entitled to ask for the reimbursement of the costs due from the unrepresented citizen’s Member State of nationality. To avoid being faced with requests for reimbursement after long periods, the assisting Member State and Member State of nationality should be given a reasonable deadline to, respectively, make the request and reimbursement. The deadline should take into account the complexity of the problem, the involvement of the facility's staff and the duration of assistance

AddedRecital 34 a (new): (34a) An appropriate increase of the EEAS budget and human resources should be granted, in addition to the revenue from Member States reimbursements, to guarantee the proper execution of responsibilities in providing assistance and/or protection to EU citizens.

AddedRecital 41: (41) When processing such special categories of personal data, the competent authorities of the Member States and Union institutions and bodies should ensure suitable and specific measures to safeguard data subjects’ interests and rights. This should include, where possible, encrypting such personal data and specific attribution of access rights for personnel who have access to the specified types of special categories of personal data.

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 2

RemovedWhere a crisis situation exists, the process leading to the recognition of an EU citizen as unrepresented should be kept as simple as possible : this general criteria will allow Member States and EU delegations to focus on providing protection to EU citizens by making the identification process to establish a list quasi-automatic.

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point -1 (new), Article 1 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1 a (new): (-1) in Article 4, the following subparagraph 1a is added: / ‘Recognised refugees and stateless persons and other persons who do not hold the nationality of any country, who reside in a Member State and are holders of a travel document issued by that Member State shall be entitled to consular protection under the same conditions as unrepresented citizens, if a Member State of residence is not represented by a diplomatic or consular authority.

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 3

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1, Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point a: (a) the difficulty for the citizen concerned to safely reach or be reached by the embassy or consulate of his or her Member State of nationality within a reasonable period of time, taking into account the nature and urgency of the assistance requested and the means available to the citizen. While the appropriate period of time will depend on the particularities of each assistance request, the period for citizens to safely reach or be reached by the embassy or consulate of their Member State shall in any case not exceed 48 hours;

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 4

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1, Article 7 – paragraph 3 a (new): 3a. Where Union delegations are the only representation physically located in a third country, or where there is an objective need for additional assistance to unrepresented citizens during a crisis situation due to insufficient capacity of Member States’ embassies and consulates, Union delegations shall provide consular assistance, including issuing Emergency Travel Documents following the provisions set forth by directive (EU) 2019/997.

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 5

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 1, Article 7 – paragraph 4 a (new): 4a. When providing consular protection to unrepresented citizens, Member States shall take into account an intersectional approach to the specific needs of vulnerable groups and individuals at risk of discrimination on any ground such as those referred to in Article 21 of the Charter, namely sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation.’

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 6

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 2, Article 9 – paragraph 1: (2) in Article 9, the following point is added: / deleted / deleted / (fa) court proceedings in urgent cases requiring immediate attention. / deleted

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 7

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4, Article 11 – paragraph 2: 2. Union delegations shall support Member States in the provision of consular protection to unrepresented citizens in accordance with Article 5(10) of Decision 2010/427/EU. Such support may include carrying out, upon request by and on behalf of Member States, specific consular assistance tasks. The assisting Member State and the Member State of nationality shall provide without delay the Union delegation with all the relevant information in the case concerned..

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 8

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4, Article 11 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. The EEAS and Union Delegations shall be allocated the necessary financial and human resources to cover the overhead and additional horizontal administrative workload

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 9

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4, Article 13 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. In the context of local consular cooperation referred to in Article 12, Member States and the EEAS shall set up and agree a joint consular contingency plan for each third country. The joint consular contingency plan shall be updated annually, or more frequently in the event of extraordinary circumstances and contain:

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 10

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4, Article 13 – paragraph 1 – point a: (a) an analysis of the consular situation in the country, including an overview of Member State embassies or consulates, an estimate of the number and location of Union citizens, and a risk assessment of the most plausible scenarios affecting Union citizens; such as, but not limited to, military, political, criminal and health risks, and natural disasters;

Directive (EU) 2015/637

Change 11

AddedArticle 1 – paragraph 1 – point 4, Article 13 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1: Where present, Union delegations shall coordinate the setting up and agreement of joint consular contingency plans, based on contributions made by the embassies or consulates of the Member States represented in the third country concerned and the consular authorities of unrepresented Member States. This might include, when necessary, the cooperation with third countries and international organisations. Joint consular contingency plans shall be made available to all Member States, the EEAS and the Commission services.

Directive (EU) 2015/637