EU and U.S defuse crisis over visas -- for now

By Zoran Radosavljevic

BRDO, Slovenia (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States agreed on Thursday to defuse a crisis over visa deals by allowing talks between Washington and individual EU states to run in parallel with EU-U.S. negotiations.

The Bush administration's decision to sign separate visa deals in recent weeks with several ex-communist central European countries instead of with the EU as a whole sparked tensions within Europe and across the Atlantic.

"We were able to clarify our respective positions and we found good convergence," EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini told a news conference in Slovenia, which holds the EU presidency, after talks with senior U.S. officials.

"We made a proper distinction on what is possible to do at the national level and what is not... Our timetable is ambitious but realistic. Our talks will start in a few days, if not tomorrow," Frattini said.

Most old EU states are part of the U.S. visa waiver program, which allows their citizens to travel without visas, but not 11 of the 12 mostly ex-communist countries that joined the bloc in 2004 and 2007, along with older member Greece.

Washington's refusal to extend a visa waiver systematically to all EU newcomers caused resentment in countries that are among the most loyal U.S. allies -- some with troops fighting under American command in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Neither side spelled out on Thursday what exactly fell under EU competence and what could be included in bilateral deals.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Washington would continue to sign separate visa deals "state by state", as required by U.S. law.

"There will be no discrimination between old and new Europe... But we have to go step by step. Each country has to meet the standards," Chertoff said.

NEW EUROPE IMPATIENT

Frattini said the EU-US talks should be concluded in June and the aim was to introduce visa waiver programs for all member states in October but Chertoff gave no such assurance.

"Some states are likely to be eligible in the relatively near future. But there may be some states which, frankly are some distance away from meeting the standards," Chertoff said.

Critics said Washington's divide-and-rule approach broke ranks with EU solidarity and infringed on the bloc's competence on visas.

Chertoff said this was simply a matter of U.S. law and "was not meant to intrude on EU competencies or violate EU laws".

"(Our) common goal is to achieve secure visa free travel in full compliance with applicable laws between the EU member states and the United States as soon as possible," said a joint statement agreed after talks in Slovenia said.