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29th Mar 2024

EU unity to be tested over US visa-free regime

  • The debate has revealed deep divisions between EU member states (Photo: EUobserver)

EU interior ministers are gathering in Brussels for what is likely to be a heated battle over how the European Union should react to new US travel security demands, with member states split between those who enjoy visa-free travel to the United States and those who do not.

On Thursday (28 February), all 27 ministers will try to agree a "common position" on a set of requirements tabled by Washington, while taking into account a bilateral agreement between the US and the Czech Republic.

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Earlier this week, Prague became the first EU capital to sign a so-called memorandum of understanding - a document committing, amongst other things, all Czech citizens to obtain electronic authorisation to travel before they leave for the US.

The Czech government claims the political agreement is going to pave the country's way to the visa-free access to the US by the end of this year. "We believe our bilateral agreement will move things forward", Czech deputy prime minister Alexandr Vondra recently told EUobserver.

The European Commission, for its part, said on Wednesday (27 February) that it "reserves its right to take appropriate action", should the memorandum - currently being analysed by Brussels' legal services - violate member state's EU obligations.

"This is not a text which the commission has signed off", the EU's executive spokesperson said, adding that "acting collectively gives the EU better bargaining power".

He acknowledged, however, that Prague secured "some important amendments" in the final version of the controversial document and that "the text is substantially different from the draft initially offered by the United States".

What next?

The European Commission, along with the Slovenian EU presidency, is now set to push for a common way forward - something that should be presented when the EU meets its US partners on 13 March to discuss a justice and home affairs dossier, including travel security issues.

But member states' diplomats, preparing the Thursday ministerial meeting, have failed to unite over a draft common position, as it suggested EU states should refrain from bilateral negotiations, sources told EUobserver.

The commission has also distributed its own proposal of an EU-US memorandum of understanding, but this is also unlikely to fly.

The debate has revealed deep divisions between EU states, with those who enjoy visa-free travel to the US on the one side and most of the rest of the bloc on the other side. Ireland was standing in the middle, one diplomat said.

Currently, the US visa-free regime is applied to 14 old EU member states plus Slovenia, while citizens from nine of the countries that joined the bloc in 2004, as well as Greece, are required to have a visa even for a short stay in the US.

Remaining agenda

Apart from US travel security demands, interior ministers will also discuss the change of status of the EU police office, Europol, which should become a "community agency financed by the community budget".

Meanwhile Liechtenstein - currently under fire over a tax evasion scandal in Germany - will formally become a part of the Schengen passport-free area.

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