Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-10-19-Speech-1-112"
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"en.20091019.18.1-112"2
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"Madam President, I am also very grateful to Mr Busuttil for his excellent report.
The six non-EU countries – Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Mauritius, Saint Kitts and Nevis and the Seychelles – were transferred from the negative list to the positive list of Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 pursuant to a new regulation, Regulation (EC) No 1932/2006, adopted on 21 December 2006, which confirmed that these countries fulfilled the criteria laid down in the regulation.
This regulation governed the implementation of the visa waiver for nationals of these countries upon the conclusion and the entry into force of a bilateral visa waiver agreement between the European Community and each of these countries.
As Mr Busuttil said, it was important to ensure full reciprocity, since back then, some of these countries were still imposing the visa requirement on citizens of one or more Member States.
Due to the temporary visa regime applied by the CARICOM – the Caribbean common market – countries to nationals of several Member States during the Cricket World Cup, formal negotiations on the visa waiver only began in July 2008.
To ensure that citizens benefit from the visa waiver as soon as possible, the Commission proposed the temporary application of the agreements signed on 28 May 2009 and, since then, they have been applied temporarily pending completion of the procedures necessary for their formal conclusion.
Under the principle of reciprocity, the visa waiver covers all categories of persons – ordinary, diplomatic or service/official passport holders – travelling for all kinds of purposes, except for the purpose of carrying out a paid activity.
As Mr Busuttil said, in order to maintain equal treatment for all EU citizens, the agreements include a provision stipulating that the six non-EU countries may suspend or terminate the agreement only in respect of all the Member States of the European Community and, reciprocally, that the Community may also suspend or terminate the agreement only in respect of all of its Member States.
There you have it; I am grateful to Parliament and to Mr Busuttil for his cooperation. It reinforces this initiative, which will thus make travelling easier for our fellow citizens. I would also add that, in this slightly chilly Parliament, we can dream of sooner or later visiting all of these marvellous countries, such as the Seychelles and the Bahamas…"@en1
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