Lawmakers Call for End to Visa-Free Travel for Americans -
By JAMES KANTERMARCH 3, 2017
BRUSSELS — The European Parliament has passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the reintroduction of visa requirements for American citizens, raising
the stakes in a long-running battle over the United States’ refusal to grant visa-free access to citizens of five European Union countries.
“At the moment, the U. S. just believes the commission is not going to act but stick with the pragmatic argument
that doing so would create damage that’s just too great.”
He continued, referring to Washington, “There’s no denying heightened concern about the current administration,
but that’s more about uncertainty about who’s in charge and how the State Department is working.”
Mr. Moraes said the civil liberties committee could still recommend within two months
that a case against the commission’s failure to act be brought to the bloc’s highest tribunal, the Court of Justice of the European Union.
In 2014, the European Commission was notified that the United States
and four other countries — Australia, Brunei, Canada and Japan — were failing to provide reciprocal, visa-free travel to citizens of some European Union countries.
In the vote on Thursday, the Parliament gave the European Commission two months to take legal measures to impose visas
for American travelers to the European Union unless the Americans offered reciprocity to all citizens from the bloc.