Taiwan is likely to be granted visa-waiver status in the Schengen area by the end of this year at the earliest if all goes smoothly, a visiting European parliamentarian said in Taipei yesterday.
Simon Busuttil, spokesman for the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, which is responsible for the visa issue, made the remarks before wrapping up his five-day visit to Taiwan.
Busuttil said he was in touch with the European Commission before he came to Taiwan.
“My understanding based on the discussion I had with [the European Commission] is that they will come up with a recommendation for visa liberalization [for Taiwan] in a very short time. I would expect that to happen in the next few weeks, probably in June,” he said.
The procedure for the deliberation of requests for visa-waiver rights dictates that the recommendation be referred to the European Parliament for a vote, while the Council of Ministers is the co-decision maker in the case, he said.
“If nothing goes wrong, I think this [procedure will] be done by the end of this year,” Busuttil said, based on the past experiences of visa liberalization cases with other countries.
Busuttil was part of an eight-person parliamentary delegation led by Michael Gahler, chairman of the Delegation for Relations with the Pan-African Parliament, visiting Taiwan this week.
While there have been concerns that Taiwan’s resumption of executions last month after a five-year moratorium might weigh against its visa case, Busuttil and Gahler were optimistic that parliament would approve Taiwan’s request.
“On the technical level, we just need to make sure that you comply with technical requirements ... in terms of biometric passports ... politically, I don’t see any difficulty for parliament to say yes,” Busuttil said.
“I have no reason to believe that there could be political obstacle, at least at this stage. I cannot predict the future,” Gahler said. “In a democratic parliament, anyone could raise a political issue of whatever nature ... Be capital punishment, be something else ... But that’s normal practice.”
Both Busuttil and Gahler said there was no connection between the resumption of the death penalty and the visa case “in principle.”
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS