The U.S.
embassy has published some of the details. Earlier this week, the Czech delegation, headed by Topolanek, signed a memorandum of visa-free contact in Washington. The U.S. embassy has said that Czechs will provide less personal data than now and that unlike the visas, the request for the ETA will be free. The ETA will be valid for the holders of the passports with biometric data for the trips under three months for two years. Topolanek said details would be resolved CzechRep may be sued over discrimination at work ban ...
Ratification of Lisbon treaty will not be easy - Czech PM ... in the months to come. "All details will be settled in the months to come when the amount of various data to be provided and the entire procedure will be specified," Topolanek said. Some opposition politicians say the visas were actually not lifted and Czechs will give more data than now about which it is not known what will happen with them. Topolanek denied that the lifting of the visas was connected with the stationing of the U.S. radar station in the Czech Republic. The memorandum of understanding signed by Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Washington earlier this week is to bring about the cancellation of visa requirements for Czechs. Topolanek said the memorandum was also acceptable to the EU. Although some EU members criticised the Czech steps, the European Commission has said it will not yet start a legal dispute with the Czech Republic. However, EU commissioner Franco Frattini said the dispute could not be ruled out in the future. "The European Commission was unable to implement its own regulation on the same visa regime for all its members within four years," Topolanek said. "In this respect, the EC failed," he added. He said the document was not legally binding, but it could be used for European countries in general, which was accepted by Frattini. The problem is to be resolved at the summit of the EU and the USA that will be held during the Czech EU presidency, he added.
(Ceske Noviny)
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