Government Sets Up Committee to Help Romania Gain Visa-Free Travel to the US; The committee, which is headed by the head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, will include representatives of the Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Justice, and SRI
Romania will have a committee that will work to eliminate visa requirements for travel to the United States. It will be called the Committee for Romania’s Accession to the United States Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and was established by a decision of Prime Minister Ciolacu, published on Wednesday 12 July in the Official Gazette.
Among other things, the Committee is to initiate and coordinate information and public awareness campaigns to raise citizens’ awareness of the Visa Waiver Program and the process of joining the program, including by providing clear and accessible information about requirements, procedures and benefits, as well as answers to citizens’ questions and concerns, together with the relevant institutions.
In fact, President Klaus Iohannis also said last fall, after a visit to the United States, that „for the time being, Romania does not meet the technical criteria, but in order to meet them, there needs to be an awareness campaign, there needs to be better information for people who want to apply for visas, and I believe that in the end, if we all make an effort, we will succeed”.
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And Romania’s ambassador to the US, Andrei Muraru, said in January that the rejection rate for Romanian visas to the US last year was 17%.
Under US law, countries wishing to join the Visa Waiver Programme must have a refusal rate of less than 3%.
Andrei Muraru added that there are many people who apply for these visas without being aware of the risks they run by carelessly filling in these forms, and a public information campaign is needed to inform people about this application.
„There are two components, on the one hand, these conditions which cover a wide range of areas in the security sphere, inter border security, passport issuing system, citizenship regime, exchange of information on terrorism and organized crime and on the other hand the visa refusal rate which must be less than 3% in a fiscal year. There is a roadmap in the first category of objectives that we hope to meet by the end of this fiscal year, by the end of September, so that we only have this one criterion left to meet, the refusal rate,” Muraru said.
He said there are several Romanian institutions involved, MAI, MAE, SRI and the Ministry of Justice, in this endeavor.
The head of this committee set up by the government, according to the decision in the Official Gazette, is the head of the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, a post now held by Alexandru Mihai Ghigiu, former head of PSD Youth.
Alexandru Mihai Ghigiu has headed the National Institute of Administration (INA) since 21 January 2022, when he was appointed by then Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă. Ghigiu is close to Sorin Grindeanu.
Ghigiu was secretary of state in the Grindeanu government, having been appointed by him to take over the duties of the former secretary general of the government, Mihai Busuioc, Liviu Dragnea’s trusted man in the government. Ghigiu also countersigned the decision by which Mihai Busuioc was relieved of his duties.
Ghigiu is a professor at the National School of Political and Administrative Studies (SNSPA), and since 2018, he has held the position of pro-rector of the university, according to ina.gov.ro.
In his absence, the Committee is headed by the State Counsellor in the Prime Minister’s Chancellery, who has been appointed national coordinator for Romania’s accession to the US Visa Waiver Program.
This is Chief Commissioner Valentin Vătăjelu, who was appointed to this position at the end of May, according to a decision by the then Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă.
Vătăjelu is attached to the Romanian Embassy in Washington.
On the other hand, two US senators – Richard Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate leadership and Jeanne Shaheen, chair of the Europe Subcommittee of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee – introduced a bill on Wednesday, 15 March 2023, recommending Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver Program.
Entitled the „Romania Visa Waiver Act of 2023”, the bill is an important legislative step that marks the support of the U.S. Senate for Romania’s efforts to become a member of the program.
Context
The U.S. Ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, said in an interview with Agerpres that she hopes „we will be able to achieve something during my term” regarding the Visa Waiver Program.
Romania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus are the only EU member states whose citizens have not yet been exempted from the visa requirement by the United States. In 2014, the European Commission asked the United States to waive visas for Croatia and other EU countries whose citizens still had to have a visa to enter the United States, citing the principle of reciprocity. There were even threats of sanctions, but this has not happened so far.
In order to be exempt from the visa requirement for the United States, countries must have a visa refusal rate of less than 3%. Croatia’s visa refusal rate for 2020 fell to 2.69%, in line with the requirements.
However, the final inclusion of a country in the Visa Waiver Program, even after meeting all the criteria, is at the discretion of Washington.
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