Say goodbye to all those drunken plans for spontaneous Euro tours, because the European Parliament just voted to end visa-free travel around the EU for Americans. Basically, we’re no longer welcome to sit at the lunch table across the pond, and given America’s rapid descent into nationalist hell, who can blame them?
In the past, travelers from the U.S. could traipse around the EU all they wanted without a visa. Last week, though, Parliament voted to end the agreement, and we only have ourselves—well, our shitty ambassadors—to blame. In theory, visa-free travel was supposed to go both ways, but the good ole US of A has refused to reciprocate for citizens from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, and Romania, even though they’re part of the EU.
The European Commission found out about all this nonsense three years ago, and for some reason, it’s taken until now for anyone to do something about it. Maybe because they couldn’t believe the U.S. would be such a spectacularly shitty friend? Maybe because they didn’t have to worry about a massive influx of Americans coming in without a visa for indeterminate amounts of time under President Obama?
Finally, though, Parliament decided to temporarily reimpose visa requirements for American citizens because what the hell, America? Canada and Australia were also doing the same thing, but they’re in the process of lifting their visa requirements now that they’ve been called out.
The good news is that the vote isn’t binding; Parliament is basically just peer-pressuring the European Commission into doing something about the whole situation. So your spring break plans aren’t totally fucked yet, but you might want to get your ass to Paris and take that tacky Eiffel Tower photo—or, IDK, book a one-way ticket to Italy and “forget” to buy a return trip—ASAP.
