Brussels, 12/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - People with a Taiwan passport soon not need a visa for travelling to the EU because on Thursday, MEPs adopted a draft visa exemption for Taiwan. The EP approved the visa exemption by 559 to 40 with 13 abstentions, and it now needs to be endorsed by the EU Council of Ministers. The exemption could come into force late this year or early next year. Citizens from all EU member states will be able to travel to Taiwan without a visa because the Taiwanese government has lifted the visa requirement for citizens of Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania. Rapporteur Agustín Diaz de Mera (EPP, Spain) said before the vote that the Taiwanese government had lifted the visa obligation for the three countries that very day, 11 November, and had undertaken to apply the full visa exemption for the three countries at the end of 2010. In an agreement with the Council of Ministers, the MEPs set out that the visa exemption will not apply to holders of Taiwanese passports who do not have an identity card number. (B.C./transl.fl)