During yesterday's debate about the bilateral Memorandum of Understanding between the Czech Republic and the United States on visa-free entry for Czechs in exchange for meeting wide-ranging demands on information exchange on passengers, Liberal Democrat MEPs stressed that the European Union would lose credibility and influence by failing to act in unity.

European Parliament's rapporteur on PNR (Passenger Name Records) Sophie in ´t Veld (D66, Netherlands) wanted to know from the European Commission if the PNR agreement the Czechs made with the US was in line with the EU-US PNR agreement. Regrettably, Commissioner Frattini could not unequivocally confirm that this is the case.

In ´t Veld said: "I wonder what more information on passengers the US wants now. The ink on the EU-PNR agreement isn't dry yet, as a matter of fact not all Member States have ratified the agreement. If the Memorandum of Understanding goes further than the EU-US PNR agreement, I would assume that the latter is not valid anymore. In case a new agreement has to be negotiated, Parliament should have co-decision. Commission and Council should learn the lesson: a mandate, approved by the European Parliament is not an obstacle, but rather strengthens the EU negotiation position"

Sarah Ludford (UK, Liberal Democrats), rapporteur on the Visa Information System stressed that the Czech Republic does not have the right to share information from VIS or other EU databases with the United States. She said:

"The deal between the Czech Republic and the United States breaches many aspects of EU law, especially on visa policy. Transfers of data from the Visa Information System or other EU databases to the United States would be illegal. To fall for American divide-and-rule tactics can only hurt the whole EU including ultimately the Czech Republic."