The European Commission is today reporting on progress towards achieving full visa reciprocity with Canada and the United States, evaluating the developments over the past five months.
Since the last report, following contacts at political and technical level, the EU and Canada have agreed a clear timeline for achieving full visa waiver reciprocity. There have, however, not been comparable indications of progress with the United States, despite sustained efforts.
Migration, Home Affairs, and Citizenship Commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said: "Guaranteeing full visa reciprocity with Canada and the U.S. remains a priority for the EU. That is why I welcome the commitment and decision of the Canadian authorities to ensure full visa reciprocity for all EU citizens by 1 December 2017. This progress proves that our diplomatic contacts and negotiations have delivered important results. Similarly, we will continue keeping this issue high on the agenda with the new U.S. administration and will continue reiterating the importance of achieving full visa reciprocity for all EU citizens with the U.S. as well."
Today's stock-taking follows the Communications adopted in April and July, in which the Commission noted that full visa waiver reciprocity with Canada and the United States had not been achieved for citizens of some EU Member States and announced that it would report back on further progress made in the discussions before the end of the year.
Canada
Following intensive and coordinated efforts and sustained engagement between the EU and Canada ahead of the 16th EU-Canada Summit on 30 October 2016 in Brussels, Canada provided a clear timeline for achieving full visa waiver reciprocity for all EU citizens. The Commission will continue its work to ensure that full visa waiver reciprocity – already applied to all other EU Member States – will be put in place by Canada for all Bulgarian and Romanian travellers by the end of 2017, as confirmed in the Joint Declaration of the EU-Canada Summit.
The United States
Despite the stepping up of political and technical contacts, there have not been comparable indications of progress towards the lifting of visas with the United States as those seen with Canada. The Commission will intensify its efforts without delay to push for full visa waiver reciprocity in coordination with the five Member States concerned (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania), once the new U.S. administration is in place. The next EU-U.S. Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial and Senior Officials meeting expected to take place in the first half of 2017 will provide the next occasion to discuss with the new Administration a way forward to achieving this objective.
Next Steps
The Commission will continue to work with the European Parliament and the Council to ensure that the European Union speaks with one voice on this important matter. The Commission will report on further progress made before the end of June 2017.ης με τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, όπως συνέβη με τον Καναδά. Η Επιτροπή προτίθεται να εντείνει πάραυτα τις προσπάθειές της για την προώθηση πλήρους αμοιβαιότητας όσον αφορά την απαλλαγή από την υποχρέωση θεώρησης, σε συντονισμό με τα πέντε ενδιαφερόμενα κράτη μέλη (Βουλγαρία, Κροατία, Κύπρος, Πολωνία και Ρουμανία), μόλις αναλάβει καθήκοντα η νέα κυβέρνηση των ΗΠΑ. Η επόμενη συνεδρίαση των υπουργών και ανώτερων υπαλλήλων Δικαιοσύνης και Εσωτερικών Υποθέσεων ΕΕ-ΗΠΑ, που αναμένεται να πραγματοποιηθεί το πρώτο εξάμηνο του 2017, θα δώσει την ευκαιρία να εξεταστεί, από κοινού με τη νέα κυβέρνηση, η μελλοντική πορεία για την επίτευξη αυτού του στόχου.