EU Parliament certifies visa waiver agreement with Peru

On 5 July, Members of European Parliament (MEPs) certified a visa waiver agreement between EU and Peru, which will allow citizens of EU to travel to Peru and Peruvians to travel to EU without needing a visa for visits up to 90 days within any 180-day period. The deal was accepted by 611 votes to 59. The agreement was signed on 14 March by Peru’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ana María Sánchez de Ríos, Dutch foreign affairs minister for the EU Council Bert Koenders, and the EU Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos. Applicable to this agreement are all citizens who hold a valid ordinary, diplomatic, service, official or special passport and wish to travel for any lawful purpose except undertaking a paid activity. For business activity, each member state may separately decide to enforce or withdraw a visa requirement for Peruvian citizens; Peru is also allowed to select in the same way for citizens of each EU member state. Mariya Gabriel (EPP, BG), EU Parliament´s rapporteur, was of the view that the visa exemption would improve economic and cultural relations and also allow more political exchange on subjects such as human rights and basic freedoms. Peru is one of the few Latin American countries still exposed to visa requirements of the EU. For the Netherlands and France, the pact’s requirements apply only in their European territories.