Barrot Heads to DC for Visa Waiver, Guantanamo Inmates Talks

The Vice-President of the European Commission, Jacques Barrot, is going to insist on full EU-US reciprocity in visa-free travel during the Guantanamo inmates talks in DC Monday and Tuesday.

The Vice-President of the European Commission, Jacques Barrot, is visiting Washington, DC, Monday for talks regarding the potential taking in of Guantanamo inmates by EU states.

 

Barrot, who is the European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom, and Security, has made it clear he would ask Washington for full reciprocity in visa-free travel between the EU and the US, Bulgarian National Radio reported.

 

This would mean the inclusion of the five EU member states, whose citizens still need visas to enter the USA – Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, and Romania – in the US Visa Waiver Program.

 

Barrot will be accompanied on his trip to DC on March 16-17 by the Czech Republic Interior Minister, Ivan Langer, who represents the Czech EU Presidency. The two of them will be meeting with US Attorney General, Eric Holder, and US Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano.

 

In addition to visa reciprocity, the EU and US representatives are going to discuss a potential bilateral agreement on personal data protection.

 

The main issue of the talks, however, will be the potential taking in of innocent inmates from the Bush Administration prison at Guantanamo by EU countries.

 

According to Barrot, EU states could take in up to 60 Guantanamo detainees, the Financial Times reported.

 

"We are open to co-operation to help close Guantanamo as long, of course, as the methods used there are not replicated in other places”, the EC Vice-President has stated as quoted by the FT.

 

245 of the Guantanamo detainees, formerly referred to by the Bush Administration as “enemy combatants” will not be charged in US courts, but cannot return to their home countries for fears of prosecution.

 

Any decision to take in Guantanamo inmates will finally be approved by the governments of the respective EU member states that have been approached by the Obama Administration on the matter.

 

 

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