Tag: visa

EU antitrust regulators yesterday (31 July) charged Visa Europe, the European licensee of Visa Inc, over its cross-border credit card fees, saying they harm competition between banks and lead to higher consumer prices.

The EU has gained valuable experience in recent years in achieving visa-free travel for the citizens living in its neighbourhood. After the countries of the Western Balkans, the next on their way toward achieving visa-free travel are its eastern partners, with Russia, Ukraine and Moldova leading the way. However, this goal is unlikely to be achieved in the short term.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is hosting EU leaders today (1 June) for a summit aimed at putting aside past differences and focusing on reviving trade and boosting troubled economies.

The European Commission announced yesterday (26 April) that it had reached an agreement with global card payment company Visa to reduce fees on its debit cards by 0.2%. Retailers, meanwhile, protested that the company's concession was too small.

The European Commission is preparing to table proposals on 2 June to lift visa requirements for citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Defining responsibility for war crimes and genuinely confronting its recent past will help Serbia to clear the way for EU accession, Miroljub Radojković, professor of journalism at the University of Belgrade, told EurActiv in an interview.

A recent European Court of Justice ruling has increased the chances of speeding up the abolition of visa requirements for Turkish citizens visiting the EU, the president of Turkey's Economic Development Foundation (IKV), Professor Haluk Kabaalioglu, told EurActiv Turkey in an interview.

MasterCard decided yesterday to challenge last December's decision by the European Commission which confirmed the illegality of cross-border interchange fees imposed by the American company to all transactions made in Europe with a credit or debit card.

The European Parliament, on 7 June 2007, backed proposals to set up a European Visa Information System (VIS), set to be the world's largest biometric database. The text is the result of an agreement with Council so the legislative process has been completed at the first reading stage - however, detractors claim that the system heralds the ever-encroaching 'Big Brother' threat to citizen privacy, and the Conservatives have called for Britain to opt out.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso will put pressure on US President George Bush to lift visa restrictions for EU citizens when both meet at the EU-US summit, on 21 June 2006, in Vienna. 

To strengthen security against terrorist attacks, the Commission has adopted a package of measures designed to allow greater monitoring of those seeking entry to the EU.  

One of the fundamental principles of the EU project is free movement: EU citizens should be able to move freely and easily between member states. This means the withering away of borders within the Union and, concomitantly, the strengthening of controls at external borders.