On Thursday 13 April, members of the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties denounced the “blackmail” exerted by the United States against the EU over the visa liberalisation regime which is still denied to nationals of Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus wishing to travel to the United States.
In a debate organised with the Commission, some of these MEPs, including Patrick Breyer (Greens/EFA, German) and Sophie in 't Veld (Renew Europe, Dutch), pointed to the link made by Washington between a new enhanced border security partnership being pushed by the US and potential relaxations of the ‘visa waiver’ regime for these three Member States.
Both the elected representatives and the Commission are concerned about US demands for access by US immigration or law enforcement authorities to certain EU police databases at the external borders, such as biometric data on entry to and exit from the EU.
The Commission’s ‘Schengen’ coordinator, Olivier Onidi, also stressed that, at present “no third country can have access” to these European information systems, and the Commission’s “priority” in exchanges with its American counterparts must remain the lifting of visa restrictions for the last three Member States that are deprived of them. “We must not be diverted from this objective”, he said.
The debate was specifically about the “Enhanced Border Security Partnership (EBSP)” programme, which is regularly discussed between the two sides in the framework of the bi-annual Home Affairs Ministerial Meeting.
Initially voluntary, it asks, among other things, countries benefiting from a visa-free regime for short stays granted by the United States to open up some of their police databases, with reciprocity implying equal access for these countries to US data.
The programme will become mandatory in 2027 and would, if the EU agrees in principle, involve negotiating a new EU-US agreement, although Member States could also proceed through bilateral agreements with Washington.
For the Commission’s coordinator, this 2027 deadline seems complicated to meet. Before then, it will be necessary to clearly define the potential conditions of such access, define the data concerned, and then obtain the approval of the elected representatives and the EU Council.
The Commission has already launched an initiative allowing third countries and non-Schengen countries to obtain controlled access to these European databases, but “it is difficult to do and it has not yet been possible to present this proposal”, said Olivier Onidi. In any case, the Commission is working on a “proof of concept”, to assess the feasibility of the project.
For Ms in 't Veld, the request should be “declined” and “cooperation with the United States should be abandoned if there are such threats”.
For the Renew Europe MEP, it is first of all up to the EU to impose on the United States the integration of the three remaining Member States into the ‘visa waiver’ programme, before considering these requests on the European police databases. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)