Annexes to COM(2020)851 - Position of the Commission following Parliaments' resolution on obligations of the Commission in the field of visa reciprocity and reporting on the state of play - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2020)851 - Position of the Commission following Parliaments' resolution on obligations of the Commission in the field of visa ... |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2020)851  |
| date | December 22, 2020 |
Serious Crime Agreement), using information provided by the United States for enhanced
screening and counter-terrorism efforts, as well as increased national screening capabilities.
While acknowledging progress, the United States reiterated that its assessment follows a
holistic approach, and it did not consider all the requisite agreements as fully implemented yet16.
As an outcome of the meeting, all four Member States committed to continue working on various work-strands from their respective work-plans. The United States committed to continue reviewing the respective work-plans and give continuous feedback.
Tripartite meeting in December 2020
Another round of tripartite meeting took place on 10 and 11 December 2020, over videoconference. It served to underline the engagement despite the continued context of a global pandemic. The visa refusal rates for the 2020 fiscal years were not yet publicly available, but the U.S. authorities underlined the that the decline in 2020 also translated in a sharp decline in visa applications.
The meeting therefore focused on the security requirements, by having a third round of discussions on the tailored work-plans provided by the U.S. authorities to each of the Member States concerned. All Member States demonstrated further progress on a range of work-strands. Enhancing the integrity of national passport issuing systems was raised as an issue, to a different degree, for each of the four Member States concerned, with schemes offering expedited ways to citizenship and addressing cases of fraud in the passport offices flagged as a particular area of concern.
As part of the meeting, the Commission services delivered a presentation on European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and overall interoperability of information systems for migration and security, in order to raise awareness of U.S. authorities for this area where EU rules exist.
As an outcome of the meeting, all four Member States committed to continue addressing the suggested actions from the work-plans. The United States committed to refining the respective work-plans, if need be, in light of actions already taken. The Commission committed to subsequently address other horizontal issues, where EU rules exist.
As previously reported, in addition to signing the Preventing and Combating Serious Crime Agreement (PCSC), the targeted enhancements introduced by the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2017 have made it mandatory for this Agreement to be fully implemented for a country to be considered for Visa Waiver Program designation.
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2. U.S. Visa Waiver Program requirements and developments
Visa refusal rate
As reported in the March 2020 Communication, the visa refusal rate for 2019 showed decreases for all four Member States concerned, bringing some of them close to the legally required 3% threshold. Cyprus remains under 3%, Croatia decreased to 4%, and Bulgaria and Romania both recorded rates under 10% for the first time – i.e. 9.75% for Bulgaria and 9.11% for Romania. The visa refusal rates for the 2020 fiscal year, which ended in September, are not yet available.
Security
requirements
As previously reported, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania have signed and ratified the Preventing and Combating Serious Crime Agreement (PCSC) with the United States, and have worked on its full implementation, which according to United States authorities is not yet the case.
Work on meeting the overall security requirements continues on the basis of the work-plans which the U.S. authorities individually tailored for each Member State concerned (see section II.2). The next tripartite meeting, planned for the spring 2021 will focus on the progress in actions identified in the work-plans.
3. Current political context in the United States and EU-U.S. bilateral relations
Following the Presidential, Congress, State and local elections on 3 November 2020, the United States administration has now entered a transition period. It will last until the Inauguration Day scheduled for 20 January 2021. This means that the incumbent administration is not expected to take any forward-looking policy decisions, including on visa reciprocity. Political engagement will resume after the inauguration of the new President and his Cabinet.
On 2 December 2020, the Commission, together with the European External Action Service, issued a Joint Communication “A new EU-US agenda for global change”17. The Joint Communication puts forward a proposal for a new, forward-looking transatlantic agenda, conveys a positive political message to the upcoming US Administration, on the importance of renewing our transatlantic partnership and recalls that for people on both sides of the Atlantic, transatlantic ties are a vital element of their societies, identities, economies and personal lives.
As stated in the Joint Communication, the change in administration in the United States provides a unique opportunity to define a new transatlantic agenda for global cooperation. One of the guiding principles of such a partnership should be to work together on solutions to bilateral differences that respect our common values. In this context, it will important to assess the stance of the incoming United States administration to visa reciprocity issues.
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IV. NEXT STEPS AND CONCLUSIONS
The Commission reiterates its intention to continue to actively support the four Member States concerned in order to help them fulfil the requirements of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.
Upcoming meetings, both technical and political (in tripartite and bilateral formats), will provide opportunities to maintain the momentum. The next regular tripartite meeting, planned for spring 2021, should take forward the technical work based on the work-plans provided by the United States to each of the four remaining Member States, allowing the latter to further operationalise the U.S. Visa Waiver Program security requirements.
The next EU-U.S. Justice and Home Affairs Senior Officials’ meeting, expected to take place in early spring 2021, followed by the EU-U.S. Justice and Home Affairs’ Ministerial meeting, planned for summer 2021 in Portugal, will allow to assess progress made.
The Commission remains committed to achieving full visa reciprocity for all Member States as a matter of priority. It will continue working with the United States and concerned Member States to advance towards full visa reciprocity building on the momentum created by the joint Communication on a new EU-US agenda for global change. Given the entry of Poland into the United States Visa Waiver Program, the extraordinary context stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic – which has negatively impacted travel and the overall implementation of visa policies word-wide, and the continued progress made by the Member States concerned, the Commission maintains its position that – as long as there is sustained progress – cooperation and joint diplomatic engagement, whereby the Commission works in close coordination with the Member States concerned, continues to be the most appropriate way forward. It has to be noted that the Member States concerned agree to continue dialogue and achieve results with the United States through constructive engagement with the United States and that none of them has invited the Commission to adopt the delegated act temporarily suspending the visa exemption for U.S. nationals.
The Commission also takes into account that suspending the exemption from the visa requirement for nationals of the United States would have significant negative impacts in a wide range of policy areas and sectors, as well adversely affect trans-Atlantic cooperation and our external relations with a strategic partner. It may also endanger visa-free travel to the United States for all other EU citizens, if the United States would follow up on indications repeatedly given that the mere adoption by the Commission of a delegated act on the suspension of the visa waiver for United States’ citizens would immediately result in the United States adopting retaliatory measures, reintroducing a visa requirement for all EU citizens.
Against this background, the Commission considers that the adoption of a delegated act temporarily suspending the exemption from the visa requirement for nationals of the United States would be counterproductive, especially at this point in time and would not best serve the objective of attaining visa-free travel to the United States for all EU citizens.
The Commission will continue to work closely with the European Parliament and with the
Council to achieve full visa reciprocity and will keep the European Parliament and the
Council abreast of further developments. It will report on further developments to the European Parliament and the Council by December 2021.