Brussels - The European Commission is poised to take up steps against Canada unless it scraps the visa obligation imposed on Czech citizens, according to Deputy Interior Minister Lenka Ptáčková-Melicharová.
"Should Canada fail to lift visa restrictions by the end of the year, the European Commission will propose certain measures. These can be introduction of visa for Canadian diplomats traveling to countries of the European Union," Ptáčková-Melicharová told journalists on Monday following a meeting of the European Union's interior ministers.
The visa obligation is "unacceptable, not just for the Czech Republic but for the European Union as a whole," the EU commissioner for justice and home affairs Jacques Barrot said at a press conference on Monday.
The Czech Republic has also earlier asked the Canadian Immigration Board to lift the visa requirements by the end of this year.
Canada imposed visa restrictions on Czech citizens in mid-July this year to curb the flood of asylum seekers from the Czech Republic. Czech officials roundly critized Canada's move as "inappropriate and unnecessary".
Prior to the visa reintroduction, the Czech Republic has been the second top source of asylum seekers in Canada. Since the 2007 visa lift, nearly 3,000 asylum bids have been filed by Czech citizens, largely coming from the Roma community.
"The sheer volume of these claims is undermining our ability to help people fleeing real persecution," Immigration Minister Jason Kenny said at that time.
In the meantime, the Czech government has brought its ambassador to Canada home for talks.
The Czech Republic is the first member state in the European Union that has been imposed visas by another country.
