Czechs claim lack of support in Canadian visa row
March 01 2010 by Liam Clifford
The Czech Republic claims it is not receiving enough support from the EU in its struggle to lift Canadian visa requirements imposed last July.
Canada immigration has ruled that anyone travelling to
Canada from the Czech Republic would need a Canadian visa to do so from
July 2009.
Interior Minister Martin Pecina has said that the European Commission’s
efforts to have the requirement lifted was not proceeding well. He
stated, "I appealed to the principle of solidarity. It is the first
case in which visas were imposed on an EU country. We were historically
the first ones. Naturally, I imagine signs of solidarity differently.”
He continued, “I was surprised at none of the old members to voice any
position. I felt rather sorry because if this is a 27-member group, we
should voice solidarity all together, not the old and new ones apart.”
The Czech Republic added that the Canadian immigration department had
also failed to draw up a clear “road map” for the lifting of the
Canadian visa requirements.
Canada imposed the visa requirement as a result of an influx of asylum
claims from Romanian gypsies who wanted to come and live in Canada.
They were largely coming from the Czech Republic.
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