Commission moves to avoid transatlantic crisis over visas

By David Cronin

Date: 01/07/04

THE European Commission is trying to avert a transatlantic dispute over visa requirements for entering the US which discriminate between citizens from new and old EU countries.

The US currently requires nationals from nine of the ten countries that joined the Union on 1 May to obtain visas to visit the US. Only Slovenia is exempted from the requirement. By contrast, America grants visa waivers to all of the old EU-15, except Greece. The visa waiver scheme only applies to visits of less than three months.

Commission officials say the issue is particularly sensitive because of a reciprocity measure contained in a 2001 EU regulation on visas, which allows for retaliation.

Under that regulation, the Union can draw up a 'positive list' of outside countries that can in turn enjoy visa waivers for travel into the EU. In cases where a particular third country decides not to waive visas for one or more EU states, an aggrieved state can invoke a clause requiring the removal of the country from the 'positive list'. The removal would be automatic, unless a majority in the Council of Ministers decides to block that step.

While the mechanism has not been triggered so far, there are concerns in the Commission that some of the new member states might try to invoke it against the US, thereby heightening transatlantic tensions.

As a pre-emptive measure, aides to António Vitorino, the commissioner for justice and home affairs, are fine-tuning a plan to introduce what one called a 'softer mechanism' to be discussed at next Wednesday's meeting of the Commission (7 July).

"The point is to avoid a situation in which the big member states are obliged to impose visas on the US," the aide explained.

An internal Commission paper says a new system should be "more flexible, more realistic and thus likely to be used," adding: "This will better safeguard the solidarity that characterizes the common visa policy."

During last week's EU-US summit in Ireland, Romano Prodi, the Commission president, urged America not to differentiate between old and new member states in how it treats visitors from the Union.

But Charles Elsen, the Council of Ministers' top official in charge of justice and home affairs, said he believes the Commission's moves have little chance of success. "We will only resolve this problem little by little, country by country, and with proofs, not with negotiations," the Council's outgoing director-general for justice and home affairs opined.

A US government official said: "We understand that there is great concern among the new states of the EU. But the problem we face is that we have quite well-defined legislation over how a country can meet the visa waiver conditions."

For the visa requirements to be waived, the US Department of Homeland Security has to submit for the consideration of Congress papers showing that a particular country meets the criteria.

The track record of nationals from that country must show that in fewer than 3% of cases were visa applications to the US refused. Refusals could be made, for example, if the applicants were deemed not to have sufficient funds to support their stay or if they had stayed longer than the time permitted by a visa during a previous visit.

The applicant country has to have a machine-readable passport regime, effective border controls and safeguards in place to deter counterfeiting of travel documents. And it is required to have demonstrated cooperation with the US law- enforcement authorities, as well as the international police agency, Interpol.

"Issuing visa waivers is always done on a bilateral basis," the US official said. "It is not done with a grouping of countries, such as the EU."

When the EU's 2001 regulation came into effect, the positive list stretched to just more than 40 countries. Along with the US, these included Israel, Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea.

The European Commission wants the United States not to differentiate between old and new Member States in how it treats visitors from the European Union. Currently, the US requires nationals from nine of the ten new Member States to obtain visas to enter the country. However, the US grants visa waivers to all of the old EU-15, except Greece.