United States citizens should be denied visa-free access to the European Union before summer because Washington does not allow some EU nationals to enter there without a visa, EU lawmakers said in a vote on Thursday. A Commission official said contacts are ongoing with the US administration "to push for full visa reciprocity," but fell short of saying that immediate action will be taken. The Parliament, by a show of hands, urged the Commission to adopt restrictive measures against US citizens "within two months". EU rules say that a decision to end visa-free access should be taken within two years from a first notice to countries that do not grant free access to EU citizens. Canada also imposes visa requirements on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, but it has announced that they will be lifted in December.

Source: Egypt Independent March 02, 2017 12:45 UTC