Brussels, 14/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 14 April, the threat of a veto was in the air from Romania on signing the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA). Bucharest has taken a very firm stance on the Canadian regime of obligatory visas for Romanian citizens.
In a press release published by the Romanian foreign ministry on Wednesday 13 April, following the Commission's adoption the previous day of a political communication on the non-reciprocity of visa exemption regimes with Canada and the USA (see EUROPE 11530), Romania expressed its “disappointment” at the “lack of result” after two years of discussions between the EU and Canada for a visa exemption regime for EU citizens to Canada. Romania threatened to “reassess, at EU level, the approach to the relationship between the EU and Canada” in order to win its case.
Canada indeed offers a visa-waiver regime for citizens from all EU member states except Romania and Bulgaria.
Starting at the 2008 EU-Canada summit, “Canada committed to relax its visa regime for Romanian citizens so as to provide unrestricted movement to all European citizens soonest, without any discrimination. In the Agreement and Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) Romania feels that maintaining the Canadian visa regime for Romanian citizens puts them at an evident, unjustified disadvantage to the other European citizens. The current situation bars Romanian citizens from newly-created economic and trade opportunities”, the Romanian government stated in its press release.
“In this situation, the Romanian authorities will reassess, at EU level, the approach to the relationship between the EU and Canada so as to secure the goal of having obligatory visas for Romanian citizens eliminated”, the press release warned. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)