Only the UK and Ireland have the possibility of not following EU´s common visa policy and its executive must decide by April 12, whether to demand visas from countries, who have similar requirements in place for one or more EU states.

Both the USA and Canada is demanding visas from Romanians and Bulgarians. USA also excludes Polen, Cyprus and Croatia from the visa waiver scheme offered to ocher EU citizens.

This step will however seriously undermine the EU tourism industry.

The discussion will take place, whether to go forward with this proposal, on the coming Tuesday, just a week before president Obama arrives in Europe.

The European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) has always been very outspoken. The CEO of ETOA responded to rumors that the European Union countries may enforce visa regulations for American travelers to visit EU destinations.

ETOA says in a press release:

“At first glance,” said Tom Jenkins, CEO of ETOA, “This seems an act of shocking stupidity. The value of North American tourism to Europe is approximately $60 billion: it is equivalent in importance to entire export value of Europe’s automotive industry. It is wholly in Europe’s interest to ensure that this continues.”

“Whilst the obligation of the European Union is to seek full reciprocity in visa treatment for all member states, even the chance that a visa regime will be imposed may cause real alarm. And alarm can destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

“Even at second glance, the reciprocity being sought is absurd: because some Europeans are being denied the chance to freely access American services, we will impose the same restrictions on Americans spending money in Europe. It would be an act of commercial self-mutilation on an epic scale.”