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thoughts from the deep..Sunday, October 15
US visa requirements for the EU
BRUSSELS, Belgium — The European Commission said Wednesday it would recommend that EU countries impose visa requirements on U.S. diplomats because Washington has failed to waive visas for all 25 EU nations. 
European Union spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said the justice and interior ministers on Thursday would discuss Washington’s refusal to grant visa-free travel for nationals of Greece, Cyprus, Malta and seven east European nations that joined the bloc in 2004.
He said the ministers were expected to back the Commission proposal to impose retaliatory restrictions.
“The EU could now envisage taking these kind of measures,” Roscam Abbing said. “This is an extremely frustrating exercise for the citizens from those member states ... that they still cannot benefit from a mechanism which really should be applicable to them as well.”
Inclusion in the U.S. visa waiver program is a delicate issue for many former communist countries that have become EU members and close allies of Washington. Some deploy soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, sometimes as part of the U.S.-led coalition.
Roscam Abbing said EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini had sent a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, saying the EU believed it was “no longer understandable and acceptable” that the U.S. refuse to lift the visa requirements.
While the EU justice chief “shared concerns about security,” he “does not consider ... them to be relevant in the case of the countries whose compliance with European law, standards and policy cannot be doubted.”
The sanction was one of the recommendations mentioned in a report issued by the Commission Wednesday regarding which countries were still refusing to extend visa-waiver programs with the EU to all its members.
“We don’t think the progress made vis-a-vis a number of countries, Canada, Australia, but also the United States indeed, is sufficient,” Roscam Abbing said. “We want to keep up the pressure as much as possible.” The report said there had been “no tangible progress” in negotiations between the 25-nation bloc and the three nations. However, Canada and Australia had for now escaped sanctions because they were at least open to compromise.
EU officials have long insisted visa waiver deals must be fully reciprocal. U.S. officials claim Greece and nine of the 10 countries that joined the 25-nation bloc in 2004 still fail to meet all the U.S. criteria necessary for joining the program.
By Constant Brand
European Union spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing said the justice and interior ministers on Thursday would discuss Washington’s refusal to grant visa-free travel for nationals of Greece, Cyprus, Malta and seven east European nations that joined the bloc in 2004.
He said the ministers were expected to back the Commission proposal to impose retaliatory restrictions.
“The EU could now envisage taking these kind of measures,” Roscam Abbing said. “This is an extremely frustrating exercise for the citizens from those member states ... that they still cannot benefit from a mechanism which really should be applicable to them as well.”
Inclusion in the U.S. visa waiver program is a delicate issue for many former communist countries that have become EU members and close allies of Washington. Some deploy soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, sometimes as part of the U.S.-led coalition.
Roscam Abbing said EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini had sent a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, saying the EU believed it was “no longer understandable and acceptable” that the U.S. refuse to lift the visa requirements.
While the EU justice chief “shared concerns about security,” he “does not consider ... them to be relevant in the case of the countries whose compliance with European law, standards and policy cannot be doubted.”
The sanction was one of the recommendations mentioned in a report issued by the Commission Wednesday regarding which countries were still refusing to extend visa-waiver programs with the EU to all its members.
“We don’t think the progress made vis-a-vis a number of countries, Canada, Australia, but also the United States indeed, is sufficient,” Roscam Abbing said. “We want to keep up the pressure as much as possible.” The report said there had been “no tangible progress” in negotiations between the 25-nation bloc and the three nations. However, Canada and Australia had for now escaped sanctions because they were at least open to compromise.
EU officials have long insisted visa waiver deals must be fully reciprocal. U.S. officials claim Greece and nine of the 10 countries that joined the 25-nation bloc in 2004 still fail to meet all the U.S. criteria necessary for joining the program.
By Constant Brand
Labels: world news
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