US postpones visa-free travel for Romanians
Shortly before the change of government in the US, Washington had promised Bucharest visa-free travel for Romanians. Now the Department of Homeland Security has announced that instead of coming into force at the end of March as planned, the exemption will be postponed indefinitely. It wants to reassess whether the country fulfils the security standards for the visa waiver programme, the Department said. The national press sees other reasons for the decision.
Georgescu has a direct line to Washington
The postponement of the visa waiver is linked to the decision not to allow Călin Georgescu to run in the presidential elections, G4media.ro suspects:
“The Trump administration decided to suspend the visa waiver programme just a few days after, out of the blue, the US embassy in Bucharest reposted a comment by JD Vance on X in which he strongly criticised the cancellation of the election in Romania. In retrospect, this paved the way for the political sanctions that were imposed a few days later. Georgescu himself announced before his suspension that sanctions from Washington would follow, as he clearly has communication channels with the Trump administration.”
A moralist without morals
If the decision is intended as criticism of supposed democratic deficits in connection with the annulment of the presidential election it's cynical indeed, Spotmedia huffs:
“It's interesting that the author of the most traumatic event in recent US history - the storming of the Capitol - the only president who refused to hand over power in an orderly and calm manner after his election defeat, is giving lectures in democracy. But if the postponement of visa-free travel is intended to punish those in power, how are we to understand the aggressive messages from the US embassy in Bucharest against Romanian citizens, who're being treated like savage migrants preparing to storm America's borders?”
Reliability a thing of the past
When a promise made in January can no longer be relied on in March, Romania's relationship with the US will undoubtedly suffer, Hotnews observes:
“Most Romanians have always been pro-American. There are many reasons, some of which will never disappear. The predictability of Washington's policies was one of the qualities that set the US apart in Romanian's minds. ... That's why we joined Nato: because when the Americans made a promise, they kept it. We lived by that motto for many years. But times have changed, and so should our expectations. Yes, the Americans may say something, but now it can't be ruled out that three months later they'll be saying something completely different.”