The importance of Visa discussed at Agora Budapest

The Visa Freedom Working Group (VFWG) is – according to some people in AEGEE – a “very important part of the organisation.” However, after more than 1,5 years I do not have this feeling anymore. During the workshop (WS) of the Visa Freedom Working Group at the Autumn Agora Budapest, we raised an interesting and important topic of AEGEE – a topic that should be common to all our members and everyone should be aware of it – visas. It is not enough to clap on a video which has a catchy music. It is not enough to say that “you care” about this issue. You really would have come !

Agora Budapest really did not prove me wrong about my perception. In total nine Agora participants came to the workshop of Visa Freedom WG with half of them knowing what they might expect. At the beginning, we had some time delay (approximately half an hour) due to internet connection problems and the distance of the workshop room, which was not known to many members of the Agora. As the workshop leader, I had been hoping that more people will show up.
After a short introduction to the VFWG life, I shared with the participants some basic thoughts about visas. They were afterwards discussing the meaning and understanding, the purpose, pros and cons of the visa regimes and immigration policy of the EU. We watched few videos about correctness and lawfulness of the visa regulations and at the same, time were telling us that visas are not good anymore, only take time, money and our patience.
With the WS participants, we shared some stories from their own experience and we agreed that we cannot say that visas are good or bad. The visa regimes are set for a reason and this reason is more or less a concern about our security. We also agreed that the EU needs more secure outside borders, especially countries neighbouring with unstable and insecure countries and the ones which might expect the flood of refugees from damaged homes. We were also discussing about human rights in the respect of the asylum-seekers regulation of the EU and paranoia of some EU countries after the flood of immigrants from northern Africa.
We were asking ourselves about the perspective for future regarding the immigration agenda of Europe and we shared some hopes that our friends from “unlucky” countries will be soon able to share the same value of freedom of movement for the place we call home ! Unfortunately, the workshop was not recognised as much as I would like to be.
Let’s work for the best in future!
Written by Visa Freedom Working Group