Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) recently adopted a resolution urging the European Commission to take measures to temporarily reintroduce visa reciprocity for citizens of the United States and all states within the European Union (EU).
Currently, citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, and Romania cannot enter United States territory without a visa, while U.S. citizens can travel to any EU nation visa free. The recently-passed resolution now urges the commission to adopt necessary legal measures within two months time.
The resolution’s passage comes after a 2014 discovery that five nations — Australia, Brunei, Canada, Japan, and the United States — were not meeting their obligations regarding visa-free reciprocity for EU travelers. Since then, only Australia, Brunei, and Japan have lifted their previous visa requirements. The Government of Canada has said it will lift its requirement on Dec. 1, 2017.
MEPs stated that if a nation did not lift its visa requirements within 24 months of being notified of non-reciprocity, the European Commission must adopt a delegated act that suspends the visa waiver for that country’s nations for a period of 12 months.
The resolution was prepared by the Civil Liberties Committee and was adopted by a show of hands.