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Suspend visa-free EU travel for U.S. citizens, lawmakers say

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  • Suspend visa-free EU travel for U.S. citizens, lawmakers say

    Hopefully we take a hardline.

    Suspend visa-free EU travel for U.S. citizens, lawmakers say


    United States citizens should be denied visa-free access to the European Union before summer because Washington does not allow some EU nationals to enter there without visa, EU lawmakers said in a vote on Thursday.

    The European Parliament vote is set to put pressure on the European Commission, the EU's executive, to enforce a one-year suspension as a tit-for-tat measure for Washington's denial of visa-free access to citizens of Poland, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, all members of the 28-country bloc.

    A Commission official said contacts are ongoing with the U.S. administration "to push for full visa reciprocity," but fell short of saying that immediate action will be taken.


    The Parliament, by a show of hands, urged the Commission to adopt restrictive measures against U.S. citizens "within two months".

    "The Commission will report on further progress before the end of June 2017," the EU executive official said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

    EU rules say that a decision to end visa-free access should be taken within two years from a first notice to countries that do not grant free access to EU citizens.

    The first notification of the U.S. lack of reciprocity was sent in April 2014. Parliament argues that as a result the Commission has been "legally obliged" to take measures.

    Canada also imposes visa requirements on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, but it has announced that they will be lifted in December.


    (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu...-idUSKBN1691Q9
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

  • #2
    Since when is the Commission in charge about individual countries' decisions on visas? THere are also non-Schengen countries.
    No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

    To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Doktor View Post
      Since when is the Commission in charge about individual countries' decisions on visas?
      Since always. The commission can draft legislation to such effects that is binding EU-wide, which the council and parliament both can veto. This is done all the time, e.g. for the relevant treaty with Georgia just three months ago.

      Ireland and the United Kingdom have an explicit opt-out on this btw, unlike other non-Schengen EU members; this also means that by gentleman's agreement they also can't veto it in the council. As such they do not have the same visa waiver rules as the EU, but of course in reverse are completely on their own negotiating any visa waiver agreements with third countries. One example of a country with different reciprocity between the EU and the UK is e.g. Barbados, or also the Special Region of Macao; Ireland, somewhat interestingly, despite being in the CTA with the UK, typically has agreements matching those of the EU instead of those of the UK.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by troung View Post
        Yes, because acting like a petulant child is how you make America great again
        "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" ~ Epicurus

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        • #5
          Originally posted by kato View Post
          Since always. The commission can draft legislation to such effects that is binding EU-wide, which the council and parliament both can veto. This is done all the time, e.g. for the relevant treaty with Georgia just three months ago.

          Ireland and the United Kingdom have an explicit opt-out on this btw, unlike other non-Schengen EU members; this also means that by gentleman's agreement they also can't veto it in the council. As such they do not have the same visa waiver rules as the EU, but of course in reverse are completely on their own negotiating any visa waiver agreements with third countries. One example of a country with different reciprocity between the EU and the UK is e.g. Barbados, or also the Special Region of Macao; Ireland, somewhat interestingly, despite being in the CTA with the UK, typically has agreements matching those of the EU instead of those of the UK.
          UK never followed them in full.
          No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

          To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by antimony View Post
            Yes, because acting like a petulant child is how you make America great again
            Please explain. This is something that goes back at least to Clinton. Bill Clinton.
            No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

            To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Doktor View Post
              UK never followed them in full.
              The UK never followed them at all, not being party to it, and within 2.5-3.0 years May willing the question of the UK will no longer pop up in such discussion anyway.

              Originally posted by antimony View Post
              Yes, because acting like a petulant child is how you make America great again
              The problem is in my opinion mostly that the US does not acknowledge the EU as a state entity (which it legally is) in this regard but treats this concern as a purely bilateral matter between itself and individual EU member countries. A simple political solution for the US 3% rejection cap is to apply this to EU (or Schengen, or EU-27, or Schengen+Ireland) citizens as a whole, thus granting visa waivers to the countries concerned without acknowledging these countries as suddenly fulfilling US requirements.

              Although the EU should also in my opinion look into why certain countries have such high visa rejection rates in the USA, and then address these by forcing the US to modify procedures if necessary.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by kato View Post
                The UK never followed them at all, not being party to it, and within 2.5-3.0 years May willing the question of the UK will no longer pop up in such discussion anyway.


                The problem is in my opinion mostly that the US does not acknowledge the EU as a state entity (which it legally is) in this regard but treats this concern as a purely bilateral matter between itself and individual EU member countries. A simple political solution for the US 3% rejection cap is to apply this to EU (or Schengen, or EU-27, or Schengen+Ireland) citizens as a whole, thus granting visa waivers to the countries concerned without acknowledging these countries as suddenly fulfilling US requirements.

                Although the EU should also in my opinion look into why certain countries have such high visa rejection rates in the USA, and then address these by forcing the US to modify procedures if necessary.
                And not the countries to resolve the issues? Because it's not the US problem, but the countries'. If it was US, we'd have whole of EU on a visa list.

                How are Italians, Spaniards and French taking this? If I were a US citizen, well, I'd go some place else, with less hassle for me to visit.
                No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

                To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

                Comment

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