Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-27-Speech-3-151"

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". Mr President, the reciprocity mechanism was introduced four years ago, but not even once has it since been applied. This alone prompts us to consider renewing and amending it. On the one hand, the system was too rigid; on the other hand, it has not been used, because it has not substantively violated any Member State’s interest. However, things have considerably changed with the enlargement. The reciprocity mechanism is not applied in the case of nineteen countries. My colleagues have mentioned the United States, but there are other countries as well, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, among others, where reciprocity is not applied. Discrimination between EU citizens is simply unacceptable. The basis for this mechanism – as well as the whole of the EU – is solidarity, but this solidarity has not worked so far. We hope that adopting the new regulation will contribute to a more efficient application of solidarity. If you talk to citizens of the new Member States, and I do not mean politicians, as they are not really the ones affected by this problem, but ordinary citizens, you will learn what an administrative and financial burden it is and how much time and energy is wasted in the process of obtaining a US visa – and that is if the applicant is lucky. There are thousands of cases when people are turned down without any substantive reason, their cases are simply rejected. It is high time the Commission acted firmly in the name of the Community on the basis of solidarity between the Member States and I hope that Mr Frattini will seize this opportunity and take appropriate measures. This report serves as a timely basis for it. I would like to congratulate Mr Lax on his excellent report and I would like to highlight three of its essential proposals that must be adopted. It proposes an increase in the notification period from 10 to 90 days to allow for direct negotiations between the individual Member States, but after 90 days, the reciprocity mechanism must come into effect. It is also important that it draws Parliament into this process not only because it emphasises the authority and importance of Parliament, but it also improves democratic transparency. Another important point is that it not only talks about visa obligations, but also of any kind of procedure that becomes an obstacle to free movement. We hope that with the adoption of the new mechanism and its amendments, the Commission will use its full authority in cases where the fundamental interests of the Member States are violated and today, the basic interests of the nine new Member States are violated, and we hope that the Commission will complete successful negotiations with regard to this new resolution."@en1

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