US citizens should be refused visa-free access to the EU in response to American visa rules affecting citizens from five EU countries, the European Parliament has said.
Citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania are currently denied visa-free access to the US, BBC News reported.
The European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution on Thursday.
However, member states would have to approve the move, a process that could take years.
Nevertheless, the resolution, passed by a show of hands, said the new visa rules should come into effect quickly and should remain in place until the US visa requirements are shelved.
A European Parliament statement said the EU Commission was legally obliged to temporarily reintroduce the new visa rules because of its reciprocity policy.
Under these rules, "if a third country does not lift its visa requirements within 24 months of being notified of non-reciprocity, the EU Commission must adopt a delegated act ... suspending the visa waiver for its nationals for 12 months", the statement said.
It said a notification of non-reciprocity was first received in April 2014—meaning the commission should have taken action in April 2016—but so far it has yet to do so.
The commission said European officials have contacted US President Donald Trump's administration "to push for full visa reciprocity".
"We will report on further progress made before the end of June and continue to work closely with both the European Parliament and the council," said a European Commission spokeswoman, Deutsche Welle reported.
Canada also has visa requirements for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, the statement said, but it has announced that these will be shelved in December.
In January, Trump attempted to introduce a travel ban on people from seven mainly Muslim nations but it was blocked in the courts. He is working on a new executive order.
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