MEPs have called on Washington to grant visa-free access to all member states of the EU in a resolution, approved by MEPs Thursday by a show of hands.
US citizens can currently visit all EU nations without a visa under the visa waiver program whereas citizens of five European countries Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Cyprus are required to obtain visas to travel to the US. EU rules require equal treatment for all member states.
If this motion is applied, it would temporarily impose visa requirements on US travellers until full visa reciprocity is achieved. But EU nations stand to lose in this situation since these countries receive huge tourism and business from the US.
The report cited the US Department of Homeland Security as saying that the five EU nations concerned were not meeting requirements set out under US law on visa refusals, and so were not eligible to join the visa waiver program.
“The Department of Homeland Security also reiterated that temporarily suspending the visa waiver for U.S. citizens would be highly counterproductive to the achievement of a reciprocal visa waiver,” the report said.
The European Commission said it would re-launch its efforts “without delay” once US President Donald Trump’s administration was fully in place and noted that the US Congress would also have a central role to play in resolving the situation.
Canada also imposes visa requirements on Romanians and Bulgarians but they will reportedly be lifted from December this year.
