European Commission not to push for visa requirement for Canadian diplomats

The European Commission is for now not going to ask EU member states to impose visas on EU-bound Canadian diplomats in a bid to make Ottawa drop visas for Czech citizens, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Celicia Malmström said on Monday.

The news comes as a disappointment for Czech officials who were hoping that a summit of EU interior ministers would deal with the issue, and eventually recommend EU member states to pressure Canada into dropping the visa requirement for Czechs. Canada re-introduced visas for Czech citizens last year over increasing numbers of Czechs who sought asylum in that country. Earlier this month, a group of experts from the European Commission, Canada and the Czech Republic met in Prague to discuss the situation; Canadian officials said that Ottawa will consider lifting the visa requirement for Czechs only after streamlining its immigration system which might take years.