Embassy Row

     By James Morrison

 

'Second-class' allies

The Hungarian ambassador was blunt when he told Congress that his citizens are angered by the U.S. failure to include them in a program that allows select foreigners to visit the United States without first obtaining restrictive visas.
    

"The Hungarian public gets a feeling that our citizens are not welcome to visit the USA based on the mere assumption that they cannot be trusted to return to their homelands," Ambassador András Simonyi said in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Europe subcommittee.
    

Mr. Simonyi said the refusal to exempt Hungarians and other Eastern European nations is starting to erode the pro-American feelings among the citizens of those countries, many of which sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. Those were the nations of the former Soviet bloc that Donald H. Rumsfeld, while defense secretary, called the "New Europe."
    

"Hungarians feel that they are unfairly treated as second-class citizens," Mr. Simonyi said. "These are the same Hungarians who have served shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans, the same Hungarians who are a strong ally as members of NATO and a staunch advocate of trans-Atlantic partnerships as members of the [European Union]."
    

Mr. Simonyi and the ambassadors from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and the Slovak Republic signed a letter to Congress, urging that their countries be included in the Visa Waiver Program. So far, 27 nations, mostly western European, are included in the program, which requires special, secure passports and permits travelers to stay in the United States for up to 90 days for business or tourism.
    

The House is considering a bill to include more countries, while the Senate has passed a measure that expands the program but still includes too many restrictions, the ambassadors say.
    

Mr. Simonyi added that the U.S. immigration officials should have no concerns about Hungarians or citizens from other EU nations overstaying their visas in order to take jobs illegally because they have access to employment throughout the European Union.
    

"It is safe to say that visa-free travel from our [EU] countries does not represent a threat to the U.S. labor market," he said.