Malta has officially asked the EU to put pressure on Brazil over its failure to lift visa requirements for Maltese citizens.

At a recent meeting of EU foreign ministers, Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Cyprus asked the EU Presidency to raise the issue directly with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during a summit to be held in Stockholm in October.

Malta removed the visa requirement for Brazilians following EU accession but Brazil has not reciprocated, citing "legal technicalities" for not coming in line with an agreement it has with the EU.

Under the agreement, EU citizens do not require a visa to visit Brazil but this is being applied to all EU citizens except those from Malta, Estonia, Latvia and Cyprus.

According to the Brazilian government, this is only a technical legal hitch which needs to be settled through new legislation passed through the Brazilian Parliament.

Malta has told the EU that Brazil should either make the necessary changes or face EU retaliatory measures, as more than five years have passed since accession.

"We think that enough time has now passed for Brazil to come in line with the agreement," a senior government official told The Times.

"If this issue is not settled then (by the next summit), the EU, on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, will have to start requiring a visa from all Brazilian citizens entering the EU until the issue is resolved."

A few years ago Malta had the same problem with the US, which was still imposing a visa requirement on Maltese citizens despite their newly acquired EU citizenship status. Following lengthy talks between Malta and the EU and the US authorities, Malta was earlier this year admitted into the US Visa Waiver Programme.

This means that all Maltese travellers can enter the US without a visa.