Guardian: EU fights back in 'visa wars' with US

5.45pm
EU fights back in 'visa wars' with US

Nicholas Watt in Brussels
Monday June 19, 2006
The Guardian

The European commission threatened to force US diplomats to apply for visas
to work in parts of the EU on Monday, in retaliation for the refusal
of Washington to allow visa-free access to the US to all EU citizens.

On the eve of a visit by George Bush to Europe, an internal commission paper
warned of punitive steps. It said: "The only feasible retaliatory measure
in the field of visa policy at this stage would be the introduction of visas
for holders of diplomatic and official passports."

Franco Frattini, the European justice commissioner, is understood to have told
the US that the EU was prepared to impose restrictions unless EU citizens
in eastern Europe were allowed into the US without visas.

Travellers from all but one of the EU's new entrants have to apply for visas -
only Slovenia is included in the visa waiver system.