The United States will press ahead with negotiations on visa-free deals with newer EU member states, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Tuesday, despite the bloc's opposition to such bilateral deals.
The European Union has urged Washington to stop playing divide-and-rule and allow citizens of all new EU member states to travel to the United States visa-free.
"We have to admit country by country," Chertoff told Reuters in an interview in Berlin.
"If we waited until every EU country qualified, it would delay new entrants for a long time. I think most of the new entrants would rather get in sooner than later," he said.
Most EU states are part of the U.S. visa waiver programme, which allows people to travel without visas. But 11 out of the 12 countries that joined the bloc in 2004 and 2007, along with older member Greece, are not.
Among them is Malta, which has reported progress in its talks on a visa waiver with the US. Chertoff is to hold talks with EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini and other senior EU officials on the issue on Thursday in Slovenia.
"What I'm happy to say is that we're for the first time going to be in a position to begin admitting several countries as early as later this year, assuming that we meet all the milestones," Chertoff said.
Frattini said on Tuesday he hoped talks with the United States could move fast enough to allow for political endorsement of a visa waiver programme for all 27 EU states at an EU-U.S. summit in June and its implementation by the end of 2008.
But Frattini's attempts to keep the negotiations as the exclusive competence of Brussels have been undermined by new members of the bloc agreeing to do bilateral deals.
The Czech Republic angered the European Commission when it signed a deal last week to make it easier for Czechs to travel to the United States visa-free in exchange for enhanced air security cooperation.
Estonia's president said on Tuesday his country would ignore protests from the European Commission and sign a bilateral visa and air security deal with the United States, and fellow Baltic state Latvia is also due to sign an agreement.
Chertoff is due to sign these visa and air security deals with Estonia and Latvia on Wednesday.
"This is something a number of countries have really been asking for for the last couple of years," Chertoff said.
"So this is a real opportunity for countries -- Eastern European countries and other countries -- to participate in the programme. And I am hopeful that we can get everybody on board to streamline this entry process as readily as possible."
The European Union has urged Washington to stop playing divide-and-rule and allow citizens of all new EU member states to travel to the United States visa-free.
"We have to admit country by country," Chertoff told Reuters in an interview in Berlin.
"If we waited until every EU country qualified, it would delay new entrants for a long time. I think most of the new entrants would rather get in sooner than later," he said.
Most EU states are part of the U.S. visa waiver programme, which allows people to travel without visas. But 11 out of the 12 countries that joined the bloc in 2004 and 2007, along with older member Greece, are not.
Among them is Malta, which has reported progress in its talks on a visa waiver with the US. Chertoff is to hold talks with EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini and other senior EU officials on the issue on Thursday in Slovenia.
"What I'm happy to say is that we're for the first time going to be in a position to begin admitting several countries as early as later this year, assuming that we meet all the milestones," Chertoff said.
Frattini said on Tuesday he hoped talks with the United States could move fast enough to allow for political endorsement of a visa waiver programme for all 27 EU states at an EU-U.S. summit in June and its implementation by the end of 2008.
But Frattini's attempts to keep the negotiations as the exclusive competence of Brussels have been undermined by new members of the bloc agreeing to do bilateral deals.
The Czech Republic angered the European Commission when it signed a deal last week to make it easier for Czechs to travel to the United States visa-free in exchange for enhanced air security cooperation.
Estonia's president said on Tuesday his country would ignore protests from the European Commission and sign a bilateral visa and air security deal with the United States, and fellow Baltic state Latvia is also due to sign an agreement.
Chertoff is due to sign these visa and air security deals with Estonia and Latvia on Wednesday.
"This is something a number of countries have really been asking for for the last couple of years," Chertoff said.
"So this is a real opportunity for countries -- Eastern European countries and other countries -- to participate in the programme. And I am hopeful that we can get everybody on board to streamline this entry process as readily as possible."