Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-22-Speech-3-349"
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"en.20100922.24.3-349"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, once again, I have the honour, this afternoon, of speaking on behalf of the High Representative, Baroness Ashton, and not on behalf of the Council, as it says on the screen.
The European Union and the United Sates attach a great deal of importance to ensuring that their citizens can travel easily from one side of the Atlantic to the other. Transatlantic mobility can be facilitated, to a large extent, if people can travel without obtaining a visa and without paying a fee. While US nationals can enter the Schengen area without having to obtain a visa, the same cannot be said of EU citizens wishing to enter the United States.
Four Member States are still excluded from the benefit of the US Visa Waiver Programme: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania. However, we can celebrate the fact that Greece was included in this programme on 5 April. This happy outcome can be attributed to the Commission, which is doing its utmost to ensure that all Member States benefit from the exemption programme, and to the efforts of successive Presidencies to take this matter forward.
Thus, every year since 2006, the Commission has produced a report on all third countries that continue to require visas from our citizens in violation of the principle of reciprocity, since the European Union attaches a great deal of importance to the existence of total reciprocity in this area. As the European Union exempts certain third countries, they should do the same for our nationals.
Furthermore, for security reasons which we fully understand, in early 2009, the United States decided to introduce the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA), which can be used only for passengers from a country covered by the visa waiver programme who enter North America. Since 8 September, every one of these passengers has had to pay a USD 4 fee to cover the administrative costs generated by the implementation of the ESTA. This amount is in addition to the USD 10 that these same passengers already have to pay under a law on the promotion of tourism. To this end, a body has been tasked with developing tourism, and it is financed by a fund into which these USD 10 fees are paid.
Following these latest developments, you asked the Commission to adopt a position without delay. Back in December 2008, it produced a report on whether the ESTA should be considered equivalent to a visa or not, and its conclusion – a provisional one at that time – was that no, it should not. Once the final rules concerning the ESTA have been published by the US authorities, the Commission will present us with its final report on this subject. It is clear that the payment of this fee will be an important element in its evaluation. This report will be taken into consideration by the Council, which will then take the necessary measures and make any recommendations it considers appropriate.
As you will have gathered, the introduction of this additional fee is to be deplored. Moreover, the Presidency shares the concerns that have been expressed by Parliament on this subject on several occasions, notably in paragraph 18 of its resolution of 22 October. Although this fee may seem small at first glance, one should not forget that it has to be paid by every single traveller, which may, at times, prove to be very onerous for families.
I therefore believe that this policy is contrary to the United States’ declared will to facilitate mobility between the two continents and will be a real obstacle for EU citizens wanting to travel to the United States.
I would like to end by confirming that the Presidency will do everything in its power to help the Commission obtain full visa waiver reciprocity with the United States. Thank you for your attention."@en1
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