Security, an obstacle to the total liberalization of visas with Canada and the USA
In its report just published by the European Commission on the violation of the reciprocity obligation of third countries in the granting of visas to European citizens, there are two black points (except for the microscopic case of Brunei): Canada and the United States. And here the Commission confesses its impotence. “When it addresses the other remaining cases of lack of reciprocity, concerning the United States (visa requirement for Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania and Poland) and Canada (same requirement for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals), the EU is confronted with the limits of its mechanism of re?ciprocity? as it appears in the current acquis. In these cases, certain Member States are in fact considered by third countries as not fulfilling the objective conditions for visa exemption set unilaterally by these countries in their national legislation (for example, they do not issue biometric passports or they do not meet the thresholds set for visa refusals and/or overstay rates ). »
Implicitly, this means - as a diplomat expert in these matters confirmed to me - that the EU has " great difficulty in defending some of its Member States which do not comply with the minimum security standards » for identity documents or the issuance of visas. The administrations of the four countries concerned are not rigorous enough in the treatment of these. It is thus interesting to observe that the refusal of the United States as of Canada turns out, in this case, to be an instrument as powerful or even more powerful for the integration of certain safety standards than European standards. An interesting topic for reflection at the EU-US summit, which is being held in Lisbon on 20 November. One among others...