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Release Date: March 17, 2008
Secretary Chertoff: All right, I think we're ready to sign.
Congratulations. Now we'll just make a few remarks.
Secretary Chertoff: Well, I'm delighted to host Ambassador Somogyi from Hungaria for purposes of signing this memorandum of understanding, which takes us a major step closer to the admission of Hungary to the Visa Waiver Program. I know this is a moment that has been long awaited for many years. I think Hungarian citizens have looked forward to the opportunity to come to the U.S. without a visa. And while there are some additional steps that need to be undertaken to implement the agreement, both in our country and in Hungary, we are certainly -- have taken a major milestone in the direction of getting this accomplished, and it may well be possible that by the end of this year we will see the first visa-free travelers coming in from Hungary.
The essence of this agreement, of course, is to both reinforce the freedom of movement and the security of both of our countries. And in the spirit of this agreement, what we're looking to is a world in which tourists can travel with a simple electronic authorization, which will make it more convenient and more efficient and less expensive to travel, but will also enhance the security that we must have in the 21st century to deal with criminals and terrorists who try to exploit our global environment.
With this signature, Hungary joins the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia and Latvia, all of whom have signed very similar agreements in the last week. And we look forward to continuing the work on implementation later this year. And we're going to move very vigorously to do that.
Let me remind everybody that we do remain respectful of European Union law, as it affects any of the obligations to be discharged by the European signatories. We believe most of the issues to be resolved and most of the obligations fall within the domain of each of the nation states. But where EU law requires EU ratification or agreement, we will of course continue to work with the EU authorities to achieve that.
In short, this is a win for everybody. It's a very good day for the citizens of both of our countries. And I think we look forward to celebrating the first visa-free arrival coming off the plane hopefully later this year.
Mr. Ambassador?
Ambassador Somogyi: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. We really feel privileged to be here on the occasion of signing this memorandum of understanding. What we know is only one step in the right direction, but one very important step. And I think it is a result of many repeated efforts, consultations; consultations that are based on the shared intention, desire, to give us a chance to be considered as equal partners in yet another field in our cooperation with the United States.
I can assure you that while we thanking you very much for all that you have done in order to make this signing ceremony possible, we will continue to work with our American colleagues to reach the lofty goal and become part of the Visa Waiver Program by the end of this year.
Having referred to the future and with no intention to repeat what you have said about the significance of the signing of this document and the process that would follow and bring us into this group of countries, I think it is worthwhile to mention that it was 21 year ago when at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, President Reagan welcomed the fall of the Berlin Wall. We have gone a long way since that point of time. Hungary in 1999 joined NATO, in 2004 the European Union, and last year the Schengen zone, thus becoming a full-fledged member of the international community of sovereign democratic nations; a reliable partner and ally of the United States, sharing the same values and principles.
If I may -- conclusion, I also make a short reference to the past. This past weekend, Hungarians here and back at home celebrated the 160th anniversary of our 1848 revolution, whose main goals were liberty, equality and fraternity. With some flexibility, let me bring those points to today's realities. In this specific sense, liberty manifests itself in the freedom to travel. Equality means equal access to each other's countries, as well as not to be considered as second-class members of the European Union, while our visa-free travel to the United States will further strengthen the happily existing fraternity between the Americans and Hungarian people. So in that spirit, I thank you very much.
Secretary Chertoff: Yes.
Question: What do you see that has been the biggest obstacle in the road so far to reach these signatures, and what do you see as a possible obstacle before it becomes a reality?
Secretary Chertoff: Well, I think until last year when, at the President's urging, Congress passed legislation that allowed us a little bit more flexibility in the visa -- in accepting people, in terms of the visa refusal rate, there was a -- the major obstacle was the percentage of visas that had been refused historically. As you know, about 18 months ago the President committed himself to expanding the Visa Waiver Program, while increasing security. Congress -- wisely, I think -- put together and passed a piece of legislation that enhanced security but gave us some flexibility on that visa refusal rate. And so countries like Hungary are now in a position to satisfy the visa refusal requirement.
And I think that's removed the major obstacle. At this point we have some of our own implementation to do with respect to our electronic system of travel authorization. We have some implementation measures on exchange of information, which we will be working on over the next few months. But assuming all that works as we envision, there really should not be an obstacle to getting everything in place within a matter of months. And I certainly think it's reasonable to hope that we could see the first visa-free travelers from Hungary arriving in the United States by the end of this year. It should be a great event.
Yes.
Question: Are you going to sign one of these agreements with a fourth country this week? And if so --
Secretary Chertoff: I think only -- I think a third this week. I think we're going to sign with Lithuania in about ten minutes.
Question: And that's the only one for this --
Secretary Chertoff: -- for this week.
Question: Okay. And will you be signing these memos with every single EU-member state, including the old member states?
Secretary Chertoff: Yes, there will be a point at which we go back, because, as you know, we have to essentially revisit Visa Waiver membership periodically under our law. There will be a point where we go back and sign a memorandum with countries that are currently in the program. Because they're in the program, there may be some slight differences.
But let me assure you of one thing: Each country will be treated alike and equally. There will not be two classes of members in Visa Waiver. It may take us -- we may implement this over a period of months, simply in order to make sure that our information technology system is capable of managing the flow of data. But in the end, everyone will be in equal status; same requirements for citizens, whether they are from France or Belgium or Hungary or the Czech Republic. So we will have an equal playing field.
Question: One follow-up -- sorry, quickly. Well, if that's the case, you were saying you supported the twin-track approach of the EU. But isn't there some things in these agreements -- for example, repatriation -- that would be an EU issue? And how are you going to resolve that if, you know, the EU says, well, that should be signed within a context of an EU agreement, and then you put that in an international agreement?
Secretary Chertoff: Well, that's actually pretty easy, because what the EU has told us is repatriation, which I think they do regard as an EU competency, is an obligation of international law. So the EU agrees that repatriation is required. Each of these member countries is obviously going to abide and has agreed to abide by EU law and international law. So I think that's where I would call -- I guess our expression would be a lay-up -- it would be a very easy requirement to meet because everybody agrees that every country is required to take back its own citizens.
So I think that, in a practical sense, there should not be any significant obstacles, because of the fact that some areas of the discussion here fall within EU competency.
This page was last reviewed/modified on March 17, 2008.