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Kohout: Canada evidently will not renew visas, airport controls an option

22 October 2012
4 minute read

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout says negotiations with Canada have turned around on the question of introducing visas for Czech citizens. Speaking yesterday on the “Václav Moravec’s Questions” (OVM) television program, Kohout said the Canadians began to waver on their previous stance after the European Commission joined the discussion. Kohout said Ottawa will evidently not be renewing the visa obligation for Czechs in the near future. The option of introducing airport controls is on the table.

“We have no indications that Canada wants to introduce visas at this moment. That does not mean they will not be introduced, but all of the dates that have been reported up until now are irrelevant at this moment,” the minister declared.

Kohout believes the probability has increased that the rules for travel to Canada will be conditioned by a different regime, such as electronic registration or controls at airports. Such softer measures could mean visas will not be introduced.

Airport controls were used at the start of the new millennium. At that time Roma were seeking asylum en masse in Great Britain.

A few days ago, Kohout warned that Canada’s media policy on the issue seemed to indicate the country intended to reintroduce visas. The minister says the turnaround is due to the “clear Czech position” and the fact that the Czechs succeeded in winning the European Commission, led by Commission President José Barroso, over to their side.

The visa regime between Canada and the Czech Republic was lifted in 2007. Canada began considering reintroducing it due to the rising number of asylum-seekers from the Czech Republic. During the first half of this year, Czech citizens filed the second-highest number of asylum requests in Canada, mainly Roma complaining of discrimination.

“The rise in the number of asylum seekers from the Czech Republic is a real problem and Canada is carefully following the situation. Countries with which we have visa-free relations are aware that visas can be renewed if they do not meet the conditions for visa-free status. Failure to fulfill a particular criterion, however, does not result in automatic renewal of visas for the country concerned,” Karen Shadd of the Canadian Immigration and Citizenship Ministry told ČTK on Friday.

Kohout says that in recent weeks the number of Czech asylum seekers in Canada has fallen, “The number of those seeking asylum in Canada has fallen in recent weeks and Roma who have requested asylum in Canada intend to return to the Czech Republic,” he said on OVM, adding that this very positive signal was influencing the Canadian decision.

Kohout had previously said introducing visas for the Czech Republic would prompt a reciprocal action from the entire EU and that Prague would evidently respond by introducing visas for diplomats and those with diplomatic passports. The minister also mentioned the option of the entire EU-27 introducing visas for Canada. He admitted that not all Member States might support such a decision, but said the country would refer to the solidarity clause of the EU treaty. “If that decision were not supported by all the Member States, we could respond by suing at the European Court of Justice over the question of whether the solidarity clause – which says ‘one for all and all for one’ – applies or not,“ Kohout said.

“The introduction of visas would be a superb opportunity for the EU to show its unity and that it is able to use stronger means not just with respect to the problems of the bigger states, but also of the smaller ones. During this period of the final approval of the Lisbon Treaty the EU would be forced to prove it is capable of standing up for the smaller states too,” said former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg.

Kohout has asked Czech Interior Minister Martin Pecina and Czech Human Rights Minister Michael Kocáb to prepare an analysis of the issue. He also intends to travel to Canada in the near future to see the situation on the ground.

Both Kohout and Schwarzenberg see the efforts of some to make money as behind the exodus of Roma to Canada. Schwarzenberg said some are trying to exploit the impoverished position of the Roma in the Czech Republic. Kohout said a large part of the emigration of the Roma to Canada is organized and that he will ask the police to investigate.

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