Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-14-Speech-3-275"
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"en.20070214.21.3-275"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the right to travel within Europe is an issue of absolutely fundamental importance to our lives. The fact that the EU is now discussing visa facilitation agreements with its eastern neighbour is, of course, a good thing. It cannot be emphasised enough how important visa rules, in particular, are for the way in which the European Union is perceived by the surrounding world and for the way in which the third country, in this case Russia, is perceived by EU citizens. For anyone who travels in the EU’s border regions, this is often the first issue they encounter. We parliamentarians have a big responsibility. It is our responsibility to assess the agreement and its actual content. It is no secret that the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe has not been happy.
In practice, European travellers to Russia encounter two problems if they are not on a group visit. They have to have an invitation from a Russian organisation or individual. What ordinary EU citizen has such contacts? The second obstacle is that they have to register with a Russian local authority within three days of their arrival, and this can take several days. What are they to do if they are not in Moscow or St Petersburg? None of these issues is addressed by the agreement. We must be clear that the agreement is a declaration and not a document with significant content. If I guess correctly, many people in this House too believe that the agreement involves visa facilitation for all young people and all students. That is not the case. Only those who already have study places would experience some limited relaxation of visa requirements, and, in such cases, visits could not, in any case, exceed 90 days. There are not many study programmes like that.
In spite of all the shortcomings, Parliament has shown a constructive attitude. We understand the importance of sending out a political signal. However, it is important for all our citizens that the Commission and the Council should undertake single-mindedly to bring about an appreciable relaxation of visa requirements, beginning now and extending into the future. Without such a pledge, the ALDE Group will vote against the proposals.
The Commission and the Council have put forward a declaration that is partially in keeping with Parliament’s wishes. I do, however, have a question for Mrs Ferrero-Waldner: what is the next step that you now intend to take in order to abolish in practice the duty of registration and the system involving invitations? Both issues are, of course, relevant to the general, overarching objective of the whole agreement, namely that of abolishing the visa system."@en1
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