欧盟考虑中止美国人赴欧盟免签待遇

A long-simmering row between Brussels and Washington over visas is set to break into the open on Tuesday when the European Commission considers whether to force US citizens to apply for a visa before travelling to Europe.

周二，欧盟委员会(European Commission)将考虑是否要求美国公民在赴欧旅行前申请签证，布鲁塞尔与华盛顿之间长期以来围绕签证问题一直忍而不发的争执有望公开化。

Commissioners will meet to discuss what steps, if any, to take against the US if Washington ignores Brussels’ demand for a visa waiver to apply for all EU citizens.

欧盟委员会将举行会议，讨论若华盛顿方面无视欧盟提出的、将赴美免签待遇适用于所有欧盟公民的要求，应采取何种措施（假如有对策的话）反击美国。

Officials involved in the negotiations — which, in various forms, have dragged on for nearly a decade — are hopeful that a full-blown diplomatic fight can be avoided at a time when relations between the EU and the US are already strained by issues of trade, tax and even China.

双方围绕签证问题展开的各种形式的磋商，已持续了将近十年。参与磋商的官员们相信，在贸易、税务乃至中国问题已然导致欧美关系紧张之际，双方能够避免签证问题演变为一场全面的外交斗争。

Although most EU citizens are able to travel to the US without a proper visa, Washington has stricter entry rules for visitors from some central and eastern member states.

尽管大多数欧盟公民无需适当的签证就能赴美，但华盛顿方面已收紧了针对欧盟某些中东欧成员国公民的赴美入境规定。

People from Poland, Croatia, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania have to get a visa before travelling to the US on holiday or business. It is these countries that are pushing for Brussels to take tough steps against Washington unless it changes its ways, according to officials.

波兰、克罗地亚、塞浦路斯、保加利亚和罗马尼亚公民，须拿到签证才能在赴美度假或作商务旅行。官员们称，正是这些国家在推动欧盟对美采取严厉措施——除非后者改弦更张。

The EU demands that its member states “act in common” when it comes to visa policy, especially when a country “subjects citizens to differing treatment”.

欧盟要求其成员国在签证政策方面“统一行动”，尤其是在某国“使公民们受到不同待遇”时。

In 2014, the US was given two years to offer all EU citizens the chance to benefit from its visa waiver programme, which is used by a total of 30 European countries.

2014年，欧盟给予美国两年时间、要其向所有欧盟公民提供受益于免签计划的机会。该计划目前总计适用于30个欧洲国家。

“The deadline concerns the needs for the college [of commissioners] to take stock of the situation,” said a spokesperson for the European Commission. “It will discuss the economic impact, the political impact and the impact on external relations with these countries. Then they will discuss the next possible steps.”

欧盟委员会一名发言人称：“这一截止日期考虑了全体（委员）评估局面的需要。他们将讨论相关经济影响、政治影响和对这些国家对外关系的影响。然后，他们会讨论接下来可能采取的举措。”

National capitals and the European Parliament would have the final say on whether to suspend the visa waiver programme enjoyed by US visitors. Such a decision would not apply to Britain and Ireland, which have opt outs from the EU’s visa policy.

对于是否暂停赴欧美国公民享有的免签计划，各国政府和欧洲议会(European Parliament)将拥有最终发言权。这类决定将不适用于英国和爱尔兰，这两个国家已选择不参与欧盟的签证政策。

US officials, however, insist that countries such as Romania simply have not met the requirements for its visa waiver programme.

不过，美国官员们坚称罗马尼亚这样的国家根本不满足其免签计划的要求。

Negotiations have been complicated by new US rules dictating that all visitors who have travelled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria have to apply for a visa — a move that also angered Brussels.

美国出台的新规还要求，所有去过伊朗、伊拉克、苏丹或叙利亚的人士在赴美前必须申请签证。此举也激怒了欧盟方面，加大了双方磋商的难度。

The fight over visas is just one example of the increasingly tetchy transatlantic relationship. Since the start of 2016, the two have clashed on everything from the tax treatment of big US technology groups in Europe to whether China should be treated as a “market economy”.

这场签证之争只是表明大西洋两岸关系日益不稳定的例子之一。2016年以来，双方在各个方面都发生了冲突——从在欧洲的美国大型科技企业享受的税收待遇，到是否应把中国视为“市场经济”国家。

These disagreements come as both sides are in the process of negotiating a sweeping free-trade deal called TTIP.

这些分歧出现之际，双方正就名为《跨大西洋贸易与投资伙伴关系协定》(TTIP)的全面自由贸易协议展开磋商。