European Parliament ends visa-free travel for Americans

[rory_20_uk]

The EU is acting more and more like a country.

Given the vast difference between countries such as Germany, and the rampantly corrupt Romania, I'm not surprised that there are different standards for entry.

Let's all watch how glacially slowly the EU moves on this one.

[Husar]

The EU is acting more and more like a country.

That would be great if it were true.

Given the vast difference between countries such as Germany, and the rampantly corrupt Romania, I'm not surprised that there are different standards for entry.

Indeed, Germany doesn't meet certain anti-corruption standards, something the EU complained about a while ago.

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/si...chapter_en.pdf

Some issues have still not been dealt with, such as the lack of sanctions for corruption of
elected officials and the absence of a ‘revolving door’ policy, especially in the public sector.
Further steps could be taken to promote integrity and raise awareness of foreign bribery
among small and medium-sized enterprises.

Remember when Gerhard Schröder greenlit a pipeline from Gazprom, then lost the election and began working for Gazprom almost immediately afterwards?
At least in Romania the citizens hold their government accountable as we saw recently.

Let's all watch how glacially slowly the EU moves on this one.

What exactly are you referring to? The OP says "The vote by the parliament's civil liberties committee means Americans will have to apply for extra documents for the next 12 months.", so it would seem the EU has already moved. I can only assume you are referring to how fast glaciers fall apart due to global warming.

[rory_20_uk]

To equate one official jumping to a private sector job hardly compares to the corruption Romania has - and the EU has commented on - for years. That it is bad enough for a revolt hardly is a good thing. Except if all states are Bad and we should all run to wards the Enlightenment that is the EU.

What exactly are you referring to? The OP says "The vote by the parliament's civil liberties committee means Americans will have to apply for extra documents for the next 12 months.", so it would seem the EU has already moved. I can only assume you are referring to how fast glaciers fall apart due to global warming.

Yes it does state that - and I am sure that is what you want to hear and so don't bother to look elsewhere. But sadly that is not the whole truth. Link The EU has known for, oh 3 years or so and has done nothing. This vote means that it can go back to the parliament to have a vote else the MEPs can go to the Courts of Justice... It could happen in 12 months - let's see if it does.

[Husar]

Yes it does state that - and I am sure that is what you want to hear and so don't bother to look elsewhere. But sadly that is not the whole truth. Link The EU has known for, oh 3 years or so and has done nothing. This vote means that it can go back to the parliament to have a vote else the MEPs can go to the Courts of Justice... It could happen in 12 months - let's see if it does.

Eh, that is also in the OP:

The European Commission discovered three years ago that the US was not meeting its obligations under the reciprocity agreement but has not yet taken any legal action.

Australia, Brunei, Japan and Canada were also failing in their obligations, but all four have lifted, or are soon to lift, any visa restrictions on travel for EU citizens.

The second paragraph makes it sound like the EU notified the offending countries and gave them some time to come around. It further indicates that some of them want to come around but are not there yet because they move like glaciers themselves. My interpretation is that they now think that the lack of action on the part of the US warrants this action on the part of the EU, that they basically waited three years on purpose, not that they were unable to do this faster.

[Sarmatian]

Remember when Gerhard Schröder greenlit a pipeline from Gazprom, then lost the election and began working for Gazprom almost immediately afterwards?

Is that news? All politicians do something like that (except those that decide they want to retire and pick a committee of their choosing, doing little to no work for a huge salary). It wouldn't even be news if it wasn't Gazprom in question. If he went on to sit on the board of, let's say, Siemens, no one would care.

It's still incomparable to the level of corruption in Romania and its neighbourhood.

[Husar]

Is that news? All politicians do something like that (except those that decide they want to retire and pick a committee of their choosing, doing little to no work for a huge salary). It wouldn't even be news if it wasn't Gazprom in question. If he went on to sit on the board of, let's say, Siemens, no one would care.

It's still incomparable to the level of corruption in Romania and its neighbourhood.

Of course it is not news, I asked whether people remember it.
Why did the US agree to the reciprocity agreement in the first place then? Did they not know anything about these countries when they signed it and only found out how terrible they are later and hoped noone would notice if they excluded them?
Of course one could ask why they're in the EU in the first place if they're that terrible. We should have built a wall instead.

[Sarmatian]

Of course it is not news, I asked whether people remember it.
Why did the US agree to the reciprocity agreement in the first place then? Did they not know anything about these countries when they signed it and only found out how terrible they are later and hoped noone would notice if they excluded them?
Of course one could ask why they're in the EU in the first place if they're that terrible. We should have built a wall instead.

I'm not attacking EU decision. In fact, I applaud it. Sure, from the US point of view, the current system probably makes sense, but if EU is supposed to work, it must protect its member states, regardless of size or influence. It's now up to US to determine if this worth the higher cost they would have if they allowed all EU members visa free access.

On the whole, though, it's not like US citizens are that much inconvenienced, so this is mostly symbolic. Still a step in the right direction.

[Husar]

In a similar case, the EU warned the UK repeatedly because the UK didn't do anything to stop illegal immigration of Chinese goods. Now that nothing has been done by UK authorities, the EU's anti fraud office suggests to fine them. As I said above, it seems to be the normal MO to warn countries repeatedly and give them time to fix things before punishments are dished out.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/bu...-35512630.html

Clothes and shoes were imported through the UK at fictitiously low values for years to avoid duties, the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) found.

Investigators warned HM Revenue and Customs a number of times but they failed to take tough action to curb the problem, it said.

The fraud has cost the EU nearly two billion euro in lost duties between 2013-16 and Olaf has called on the European Commission to reap back the cash from the UK.

[edyzmedieval]

Romania repeatedly asked for visa-free US travel for it's citizens, but we never got that. At least we got Canada.