The Czech Republic in February signed a memorandum of understanding with the US (Photo: EUobserver.com)

EUobserver - EU-US talks on a new set of US security demands for establishing a visa-free regime with additional EU member states are set to start this week.

"There will be two parallel approaches or a twin-track approach," interior minister Dragutin Mate, speaking on behalf of Slovene EU presidency, said on Friday (18 April), after all 27 EU ministers meeting in Luxembourg agreed on how to orchestrate the planned
talks with Washington.

At the moment, 15 member states are part of the US visa-waiver programme. The remaining 12 countries, mainly from central and eastern Europe, wish to be a part of it. This has raised questions about data privacy, as Brussels has been keen to make sure that additional agreements do not breach EU law in this area.

Under the approach agreed last week, the European Commission and individual member states will be allowed to negotiate only in areas that fall under their own powers.

This means EU governments will be allowed to strike a deal on issues such as so-called sky marshals or national data exchange, while the commission will be in charge, among other things, of an electronic system for travel authorisation (ESTA).

Commission vice-president Jacques Barrot promised to pursue the talks in an "active and dynamic fashion". The first EU-US meeting will take place as early as the beginning of this week, he said.

"There is a strong will on the side of the commission to fulfil the mandate in order to end this injustice, implying we have two categories of citizens in the EU," the French commissioner added.

But he reiterated Brussels' reluctance to bow to all of Washington's demand.

"It is clear that the wish to have the visa waiver programme for all EU citizens shouldn't mean that we accept a deal at all costs, above all a deal without the principle of reciprocity," Mr Barrot told journalists, referring to the ESTA.

The system, designed to collect data electronically, is seen in Washington as necessary to determine whether there are security risks in permitting a certain citizen to travel to the US.

According to one EU diplomat, the system will have to be accepted by all EU states - regardless of their current visa arrangements with the US - by the end of this year. The EU has also mooted imposing the same obligation on travellers coming from the US to Europe, amid concerns that Washington's new system will simply be a visa in disguise.

The issue of new travel arrangements became a hot topic in Brussels after the Czech Republic in February signed a memorandum with Washington aimed at securing visa-free travel for Czech citizens to the United States.

Since then, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta and Slovakia have made similar commitments, with the White House earlier saying that the first visa-free travellers from "one or two countries" could become reality at the end of this year.

'Inciting terrorism' on the net
In a separate development, the justice ministers also agreed in Luxembourg to tighten laws to punish those who 'incite terrorism' via the internet.

Encouraging others via websites, online video, podcasts or internet radio to bomb civilians - or recruiting individuals to militant groups using these technologies - will be made into punishable offences throughout the European Union.

Spain, Italy and the UK already have similar legislation on the books, permitting courts to demand internet service providers shut down access to such content.

Nordic member states and civil liberties campaign groups however managed to win a commitment from the ministers that any new provisions would not endanger freedom of expression.

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