October 21, 2008, 8:38 CET
Sólyom rejects final accord needed for US visa-waiver
President László Sólyom yesterday sent back to Parliament for reconsideration the Hungarian-US agreement on the exchange of criminal data. The president reasoned that the pact allows the US access to Hungarian criminal records “in too broad a sphere”. If the House passes the bill in an unchanged form, Sólyom has no option but to sign it into law, however.
Sólyom complained that the agreement authorises the keeping of a register of all fingerprints, including those of victims of crime, which the US could then access. EU data privacy ombudsman Peter Hustinx also protested the regulation, as did data privacy ombudsman András Jóri.
The US links the planned visa-exemption deal for Hungarians to the Hungarian parliament passing the agreement.
The Justice and Law Enforcement Ministry and the Foreign Ministry expressed regret at the president’s decision but stated they will study his remarks and will put forward a proposal to that effect. The ministries said they hope that parliament will ratify the agreement within two weeks, and therefore the introduction of visa exemption will suffer no delay.
US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will arrive in Hungary within ten days to announce the date for visa exemption, Magyar Hírlap reports.
US embassy press attaché Jan Krc told Magyar Nemzet on Monday that, while the details are not known to them, the fact that Sólyom returned the bill to Parliament will probably not influence the introduction of visa exemption.
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Solyóm also said that while ever the US demands this "finger print" condition he would never agree and would never travel to the USA---Now at least HE has guts to stand up for his convictions.
Not so enormous big sacrifice on his point, but the more important thing is that countries like Hungary has chosen to go for a bi-lateral agreement, instead of letting the EU take the discussions. In the end the EU must have better bargain power than each individual member state.
Here we see the factual results of going on your own - a President making pirouettes.
Maybe better to work under EU. Not sure if Hungary understands how the system will work nor why so desperate for visa free travel to US? It may commence as visa free but if people turn up US entry points without sufficient funds or vague answers to questions, overstay rates goes up again etc. then back to square one again i.e. paper based applications with interviews....
EU countries should treat Americans exactly the same way as Americans treat them.
Put Americans through hell to get a visa, fingerprint them, let them fly to Europe and turn them back for no reason. Why not?
I like that Sólyom (aka Hungary's favorite superhero, The Falcon) has raised this. Unfortunately the US has negotiated the entire Visa Waiver Program (VWP), a devil-spawn child of the War on Terror and the Dept. for Homeland Securinessity, based on individual bilateral agreements. They refused to do business with the EU as a whole, citing that the whole EU didn't have the same standardised MR/biodata passport yet due to A10 countries still not fully renewing their old style passports. Jerks! So they picked us Europeans off one by one.
Have a look at the scheme. It's based on machine-readable passports and biometric data chips. What I hate is the need for biometric data, machine readable passports do the job just as well and don't carry all your personal biological data around with you (an idea I've always found a bit too Orwellian for my liking).
The Land of the Free has started to seem decidedly unfree in the last decade. Peachy Obama, I beseech thee, please set your people free brother, let them roam free without having to carry a ton of data about them around all the time!!!
Just had to get that off my chest.
Stan---- well said,could not agree more.
Demagogue--- another intelligent response apart from the fact that you hope Obama will make a difference. Sorry but he is singing the same tune ,his idea of "change" is Orwellian "newspeak" for no real change on the important issues.
The good Orwellian times are just around the corner, actually we're living in the transition period.
We now have the technology to be watched and followed everywhere, and evil tech companies would sell their own grandmother for a juicy government contract.
We have the boogeyman, needed to put the fear of God (or Allah) into taxpayers, who are now ready to give up not only their money but also their personal freedom and privacy for the illusion of safety.
I have the feeling that the Homeland Security paranoia and the wars in the Middle-East are not about protecting America. Maybe it's part of some evil conspiracy or just plain insanity, but I don't like it one bit.
Once all the tools are in place to control people, government may come and go but the control will stay. You just cannot uninvent things. I believe the British owe us an apology for the Industrial Revolution. And Jame Blunt.
We'll only apologise for the Industrial Revolution if the French do the same for their Revolution, the Italians for the Roman Empire and Catholicism and the Germans for...wait they've been saying sorry for 60 years...ermmm, another one...ermmm...aha...and the Russians for Communism! Wait there, that was the Germans (Marx and Engels) again wasn't it.
But fair play, James Blunt (Capt.Blunt when I knew him in my Portland Down days) is the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse (he is Boredom and Self-Piteous Whining, the beige rider who cometh after the others) and I apologise on behalf of all my fellow Brits, Commonwealthers and the entire English speaking world. People, we're sorry about James Blunt, he was never meant to have escaped from the testing facility.
Insane. Why are we run after a sinking boat? Who
cares it's easy to get in to a culturally deserted Country like that? I'd prefer mutual visa rules,
have Americans to fill out 20 pages of private
data and than being fucked by a Gipsy emigration
officer at the border.) If they do not eliminate that barricade around their Embassy I'd just moved
them out of the city where they can build even a
wall... Did you know that if you call the Embassy
is like calling a sex number? Very
sophisticated...
a brave decision thank you president solyom