The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on EU and North American governments to resolve a "crisis" for the EU–US/Canada visa waiver programme.
Today, most EU citizens can visit the US and Canada without having to apply for a visa, with US and Canadian citizens being granted similar visa-free access to EU states.
However, Canada requires visas for nationals from Bulgaria and Romania while the US needs visas for people from Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus and Poland.
In January 2014 a reciprocity clause was included in the Schengen legislation. Under that clause, visa-free access to EU countries (except UK and Republic of Ireland) can only be granted to citizens of a third country if that third country offers reciprocal visa-free access.
The European Parliament and the Council have until 12 July 2016 to advise the European Commission on whether the provisions of the 2014 reciprocity amendment should be enforced for Canadian and US citizens.
“Nobody wants to risk the economic consequences of introducing new requirements for travellers from Canada and the US to Europe,” said IATA’s regional VP for Europe, Rafael Schvartzman.
“We are calling on the EU institutions to agree upon a proportionate approach, in cooperation with their US and Canadian counterparts,” he said.
The announcement follows Washington’s refusal earlier this year to apply the Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) to all European countries.
In 2014 Brussels asked the two countries to broaden its VWP within two years to include those countries.
According to the European Travel Commission, more than 30 million Canadian and US tourists visit Europe each year, spending over $54 billion.
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