Brussels, 11/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 10 March, the European Commission showed its determination to uphold Community law against unilateral US demands related to its visa exemption programme, the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). “Every EU citizen should be able to travel to the United States without a visa,” but “it is simply not possible … to renounce our EU legislation and our common criteria,” Security Commissioner Franco Frattini told concerned MEPs in Strasbourg on Monday.
Frattini was addressing worried MEPs, with an expected meeting taking place in Slovenia on Thursday 13 March to try to get the Americans to negotiate a comprehensive visa agreement (see EUROPE 9618). What makes the issue all the more sensitive is that two states, Estonia and Latvia, intend to sign bilateral agreements with the United States on Wednesday 12 March, so that they can join the VWP. The Czech Republic showed the way by signing just such an agreement at the end of February. “What the US is asking raises serious legal and political questions,” said Frattini, pointing out that no member state would be allowed to violate EU law or to depart from it. He said that there had to be unity in the face of US security demands. “We should not allow ourselves to be divided,” he added, pointing out that the EU had no other option but to use a European mandate to begin negotiations with the US. He warned that EU member states all had to be in agreement; if some tried to achieve their goal before the others, it handed an advantage to the US. He said that one of the key points the EU was calling for was that the agreement on the exchange of air passenger data - Passenger Name Record (PNR) - be left untouched, and “we will not be prepared to move from that even by an inch”.
Speaking for the EPP-ED group, Polish MEP Urszula Gacek said that member states should show solidarity over visa policy. She gave assurances that, “We will support all the action taken by the Commission so that our citizens can travel freely to the United States”. Greek Socialist MEP Stavros Lambrinidis called for sanctions against those member states which did not comply with Community law. For Dutch Liberal MEP Sophia In't Veld, the attitude of the Czech Republic, which set the ball rolling by signing the first agreement, was “catastrophic”. “I don't understand why the PNR should be included (in the bilateral deal) if it is already covered by the EU-US agreement” on which the ink wasn't even dry, she complained. Frattini reassured her that the implementation measures of the bilateral agreement signed by the Czechs would not infringe common EU rules decided by all the states. “The Czech Republic has undertaken not to sign until this is clear,” he said. The way some member states were conducting themselves was reducing the EU's capabilities, said Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann (GUE/NGL, Germany). She said that “member states have to close ranks”. Portuguese MEP Carlos Coelho said it was “unacceptable” that the US had access to the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Visa Information System (VIS). He said that member states must not become involved in the US divide and rule strategy. Chairman of the EP civil liberties committee, Belgian MEP Gérard Deprez (ALDE) said this issue was “particularly serious”. It was, he said, a sad spectacle within the EU, resulting from the lack of political strategy. Nonetheless, he said he would back the Commission's efforts to be given a mandate. “You will need the EP,” he pointed out. Sarah Ludford (ALDE, UK) said loud and clear that the memorandum of understanding signed by the Czechs was “illegal” under Community law. She said that this meant that it would be illegal for the Czech Republic to provide the information called for by the United States. From a political point of view, it was disastrous, she said. There were a few voices in support of the states which had chosen to go it alone. “The Czech Republic is fully within its rights to negotiate. EU competence in visa law has not been infringed,” said Jan Zahradil (EPP-ED, Czech Republic). “I would warn you against any form of pressure against individual member states,” he said. Slovakian MEP Zita Pleštinská said that the visa waiver system was very important for her country. Any legal action taken against individual member states would not be, she said, “a good signal”, particularly during the current ratification of the new treaty. Alexander Alvaro (ALDE, Germany) condemned this implied threat as scandalous. (B.C.)