Brussels, 22/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission intends to toughen its tone against the United States, on Wednesday 23 July, so that it lifts the visa obligation still imposed on nationals of twelve EU member states. The European Commission “will propose retaliatory measures(…) as from 1 January 2009 if no progress is achieved” with a view to making other member states benefit from the American visa waiver programme (VWP), reads the fourth report on visa reciprocity, to be adopted in Brussels on Wednesday. “Despite all efforts of the Commission and individual member states and the promises by the USA to include additional EU member states into the VWP this year, no tangible progress has been made”, the Commission states, threatening to temporarily restore the visa obligation for US diplomats and officials. The states that are not a part of the VWP are: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. Although the Commission adopts a firmer approach than before towards its American ally, the threat nonetheless remains of a tentative kind, especially if one considers the announcement made by the United States to include eight new member states in the VWP by the end of the year. The Commission is not yet able to give its final assessment of the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA). This will be made once the law has been published in the American Federal Register (60 days before its entry into force).
Canada and Australia on the right road. The Commission states that significant progress has been made with Canada, for which only Bulgaria and Romania remain subject to the visa obligation. With regard to Australia, all member states whose nations require electronic visas now have access to the facilitated issuance mechanism, the Commission is pleased to state. In October this year, Australia will set up its new eVisitors system, which will also allow equal treatment between nationals of all member states (EUROPE 9689). Implementation of this system will be closely monitored by the Commission. The later also notes progress made by Israel, Malaysia and Paraguay, with which full visa reciprocity has been reached.
“No progress” with Japan, Panama or Singapore. Japan still has its visa obligation in place for Romanian citizens, and Panama with Romania and Bulgaria. Singapore has a visa-free system for EU nationals but only for 30 days for those arriving by aircraft, and 14 days for those arriving by overland or maritime means. The Commission, for its part, calls for visa waiver for 90 days, i.e. the normal duration of a short stay visa. The Commission will be making a further report on reciprocity on visas by 30 June 2009 at the latest. (B.C./transl.jl)