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MAE expresses its disappointment of the failure of talks on waiving Canadian visas for Romanian citizens
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) expresses its disappointment of the failure of talks on waiving Canadian visas for Romanian citizens and estimates that maintaining those visas "creates obvious, unjustified disadvantages by comparison to other European citizens."
According to a press release of the MAE, "Romanian authorities keep paying special attention to the goal of eliminating travel visas for Romanian citizens."
"We express our disappointment for - despite Romania's willingness to collaborate and its situation similar to other [EU] member states in the region, mirrored by clear progress in meeting the criteria considered by the Canadian side and by Canada's decision to include Romania in the category of safe countries of origin - the dialogue on the visa matter, started between the European Commission and Canada 24 months ago, failed to produce results," the release reads.
MAE reminds that since the 2008 EU-Canada summit and subsequently at the September 2014 EU-Canada summit, Canada promised to alleviate the visa regime for Romanian citizens, to ensure as soon as possible the freedom of movement to all European citizens, without discriminations.
"In the wider context of the shared goal of signing and ratifying the Strategic Partnership Agreement and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), Romania considers that maintaining the Canadian visa regime for Romanian citizens creates obvious, unjustified disadvantages by comparison to other European citizens. The current situation denies newly created economic and commercial opportunities to Romanian citizens," the release adds.
Given the situation, the MAE says the Romanian authorities will reevaluate on a EU level the approach to the EU-Canada relations, to secure the goal of visa waiver for Romanian citizens.
"Romanian authorities permanently consult with the European Commission and with the members of the European Parliament involved in this file, which are updated about the evolution of this situation," the MAE informs.