SLOVAKIA will support the European Union’s introduction of a visa duty for Canadian diplomats if bilateral talks between the EU and Canada are not successful and the EU decides that unified measures should be taken against Canada, the Slovak Ambassador to the EU, Maroš Šefčovič, told the TASR newswire on September 21.
Canada unilaterally introduced a visa duty for citizens of the Czech Republic in June, defending its decision by citing the large number of Czech Roma citizens who have been applying for asylum in Canada. The Czech Republic, in response, introduced a visa regime for Canadian citizens who hold diplomatic passports.
The Czech Republic would be able to introduce the blanket visa duty only following a unanimous decision by all EU member countries to do the same.
