Brussels, 31/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner for Justice, Security and Freedom Franco Frattini has again called on the United States to abide by the principle of equal treatment when it comes to visa waiver for the EU27. Frattini's request comes just a few days after the US Congress decided to update its visa exemption scheme known as the “Visa Waiver Program” (see related article). Once the US president has signed the legislative proposal, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will determine which countries will qualify under the new scheme. Commissioner Frattini, who was on a visit to Budapest on Monday, said he had spoken with the American officials in order to ensure that the programme can apply to all European nationals. Currently 12 member states out of 27 are not included in the scheme. “We can no longer tolerate first- and second-class member states. That's definitely not acceptable”, Mr Frattini vociferated at a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. For several months now, the EU has been fighting to put an end to what is considered a flagrant injustice. Given the constant pressure from many European countries taking part in the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush Administration has shown proof of resolve and has called on Congress to rapidly adopt a more flexible law, despite fierce opposition from a number of American representatives who still consider this programme as being an open door to Al Qaeda terrorists based in Europe. It should finally now be possible to implement such flexibility, despite the addition to the legislative proposal of a number of security criteria, for example, the introduction of a new tool, the ETA or Electronic Travel Authority. The ETA allows US authorities to require passengers to provide any personal data considered useful for homeland security 48 hours before departure for the US, in order to determine whether a foreigner is authorised to enter the United States (EUROPE 9465). This is only a
visa variant, no more no less, some officials say. In this context, but also given the recent disappointments with Washington, in particular during the tricky Passenger Name Record (PNR) negotiations, the EU seems to have changed its attitude. “It is no longer a question of retaliatory measures against Washington”, a European source explained to Europe, recalling that, just a few months ago, the EU had threatened to restore the visa requirement for US diplomats. In the face of an ally that is quite rightly defending the interests of its population, Europeans have preferred to take up the principle of equality and reciprocity for border crossing. Such is the content of the message sent by Mr Frattini last month to his American counterpart. Commissioner Frattini clearly envisaged the possibility of one day making it compulsory for American citizens to have an electronic entry visa in hand before travelling to Europe (EUROPE 9471). (bc)