Visas are issue in EU-Canada free trade pact
What might convince Canada to drop its visa requirement for Czech citizens? The answer: 12 billion Canadian dollars a year.As Canadian and European leaders met in Brussels during the EU-Canada Summit May 5, negotiations on a free-trade agreement topped the agenda. But the Czech visa policy has emerged as a sticking point, with Parliament and President Václav Klaus holding veto power over any potential pact, and the European Parliament taking up the cause.Canada reintroduced a visa requirement for Czech citizens in July 2009, citing a spike in asylum seekers. This was attributed to Roma migrants, though Canada keeps no statistics on the ethnic origin of refugees. At the time, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney accused profiteers from the Czech Republic of exporting refugee.