Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-10-Speech-3-246"
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"en.20101110.20.3-246"2
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"Mr President, the proposal to transfer Taiwan to the positive visa list was adopted by the Commission on 5 July this year. Taiwan is, as we all know, a well-developed and stable democracy. It meets all the necessary technical requirements.
The proposal is a result of a periodic review of the visa list and based on suggestions coming from Member States. The Commission assesses a variety of conditions: irregular migration, public policy, public security, reciprocity, regional coherence and the external relations of the European Union.
We need to reinforce regional coherence in south-eastern Asia. Other similar developed third countries, such as Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, are already visa-free. In addition, a process has unarguably been set in motion regarding relations between Taiwan and mainland China, which is also proven by the establishment of direct flights and the conclusion of an economic cooperation framework agreement between them.
As was said by the rapporteur and Mr Kovatchev, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and South Korea have already granted visa-free travel to Taiwanese citizens, and Canada is currently in the process of exempting Taiwan from the visa obligation.
Any visa waiver granted to the citizens of Taiwan should, of course, be reciprocated. Taiwan has progressively eliminated visa requirements for nationals of a large majority of EU Member States, and has committed itself to granting a full visa regime for all EU citizens. Romanian, Bulgarian and Cypriot citizens will be free to travel to Taiwan without a visa as from 11 November – which is tomorrow, so you can book your tickets!
Furthermore, Taiwan will extend the allowed period for EU citizens to remain in Taiwan to 90 days on the entry into force of the EU visa waiver. The proposal also covers the deletion of the Northern Mariana Islands from the negative list, since the territory forms part of the US.
Visa freedom and visa liberalisation is a great way of bringing people together, closer to each other: students, researchers, ordinary people, the business community, researchers and others. This is a very important decision that we are about to take. Procedurally, this is codecision – as you know – but I am glad to inform you that the Council members have already expressed their very broad support for this. As I understand, and thanks to the work of the rapporteur, Mr Díaz de Mera, and the shadow rapporteurs, there is also very strong support in this Parliament so I hope there will be a good vote tomorrow.
There was only one amendment to the Commission proposal, proposed both in the Council and in the European Parliament, aiming to exclude the 60 000 so-called Overseas Taiwanese nationals. The rapporteur and Member States in the Council were of the view that these people need prior authorisation from Taiwan to enter their own country. Therefore, it would be a logical and reasonable step for the EU to exclude this category from the visa waiver. The Commission accepts this amendment.
I would like to thank the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteurs for their excellent support and cooperation on this file. I am sure that the full reciprocal visa waiver will give a boost to the very good relations between the EU and Taiwan in various sectors, such as tourism and trade, and benefit all parties."@en1
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