Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-22-Speech-3-358"
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"en.20100922.24.3-358"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I think you are being too cautious. You do not want to make definitive statements because a definitive arrangement has not yet been worked out, but in the meantime, our citizens are already paying this levy. This is, of course, unacceptable. You must intervene, and in a very active manner.
As has already been said many times by my fellow Members before me, it is astonishing to discover that the US authorities have found no better answer to the question of how to attract more visitors than by making these selfsame visitors pay an additional levy of USD 14. USD 4 of this is effectively to cover the costs of the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA). In other words, they do not want to offload regular costs onto the US taxpayer: instead, they are passing them on to the Europeans.
This is a first major departure from all the various aviation charges or airport taxes we, too, have introduced in a number of Member States, such as very recently in Germany. I regret these unilateral measures by a number of Member States; in fact, I am in favour of a European approach to this matter, which should ideally take on board aspects such as the external costs of the flights in question as well. However, this is about something else entirely. In Europe, there is no question of discrimination: everyone pays the bill, whereas in the case of the US, it is only we who pay it. And there are 900 000 of us Europeans who re-register every month via ESTA.
We also need to take an in-depth look at whether the measure does not contradict the letter and the spirit of the Visa Waiver Programme. This programme essentially means that people on both sides do not need to apply for a visa, with all the associated costs. ESTA is gradually becoming synonymous with a visa. This is also what Mr Brok has just said. I would therefore ask you not to treat this lightly, not to procrastinate, but to send a very strong signal to our partners in the United States that this is unacceptable; that this is no way to deal with each other. All options should therefore be looked at, and if there is no flexibility forthcoming on the part of the Americans, we will naturally have to think about reciprocating.
In that context, I can refer briefly to the efforts being made by Mr Tajani to get a European tourism policy off the ground. The Treaty of Lisbon has given us more say on this on a European level. Perhaps it would not be a bad idea to exchange thoughts on this over the coming months."@en1
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