The vice presidency oftentimes entails a number of not-so-fun
official duties, and fence-mending is one of them. This week Vice
President Joseph Biden will be on an official trip to three
important European allies of the United States, each of which in
some way needs reassurance from the U.S., having experienced an
unfortunate cooling trend in bilateral relations. Biden should use
the trip to put pressure on his colleagues in the Administration to
open the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to America's Eastern European
allies.
Fence-Mending Duty
On Biden's itinerary are Poland, the Czech Republic, and
Romania. The first two of these countries, of course, recently
found out that the Obama Administration was cancelling plans for a
U.S. missile defense third site, which they had negotiated to host
with the Bush Administration and on which they were staking their
reputation with domestic voters. President Obama announced that the
focus would be on an as-yet-to-be-specified sea-based missile
defense option, for which there is as yet few details.
At a time when Russia is resurgent and the countries of Eastern
and Central Europe feel keenly exposed, a closer military
relationship with the U.S. is of critical importance for them.
Accordingly, there was a great sense of letdown when President
Obama announced that the third site was off, with very little prior
warning to the leaders of Poland and the Czech Republic. In terms
of both policy and U.S. public diplomacy, the whole situation has
been very poorly handled by Washington.[1]
No Interest Shown
For Poland's part, one other stumbling block in relations with
the U.S. is its exclusion (along with Romania) from the U.S. visa
waiver program (VWP). Most of the neighbors of Poland and Romania
have by now been able to join Western Europe in the program that
allows their citizens to travel to the U.S. for business or travel
without a visa for up to 90 days.
Both Romania and Poland, however, have had difficulties reducing
their overstay rates to the post-9/11 security standards put in
place by Congress in 2007. One of these standards was a requirement
that the U.S. track the exit of all foreign visitors leaving U.S.
airports by June 30, 2009. The exit mandate is still in the pilot
stage.
For its part, the Obama Administration has shown no interest in
revisiting the issue with Congress, leaving little hope for adding
new member countries in the near future.[2] This leaves countries like
Poland and Romania in a conundrum: Lowering their overstay rates
might all be in vain if the air exit mandate is not met.
Mistrust of Obama?
Central and Eastern Europe now register the lowest scores among
European nations in public opinion polling of attitudes toward the
United States. While the President's "favorable" rating is over 90
percent in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Portugal, it is
"only" 58 percent in Romania and 55 percent in Poland. While
President Bush was more popular in Central and Eastern Europe than
in Western Europe, the reverse is the case for Obama. And while 43
percent of Western Europeans feel that transatlantic relations have
improved in 2009, only 25 percent feel this way in Central and
Eastern Europe.[3]
In other words, these new allies, who have been actively seeking
closer ties to the U.S. in the post-Iron Curtain decades, are
possibly registering a relative hesitancy to trust the Obama
Administration--and, one might add, for very good reasons. The
decisions on missile defense and the VWP have both been very poorly
explained to their populations, who by now also feel at risk from
the U.S. Administration's rapprochement with Russia.
Recommendations
The best way for Biden to start remedying this situation is to
promise leaders in Poland and Romania that the Obama Administration
will use its influence with congressional Democrats to re-open the
VWP membership process in a way that respects security while adding
new countries. This can be done by:
- Decoupling the air exit mandate from VWP, allowing the
membership process and air exit to go forward separately, and
paving the way for aspiring countries in Central and Western Europe
to join the program.
- Requiring long-time members to sign on to bilateral security
agreements with the U.S. While much has been said about the
security risk posed by countries not yet in the VWP, less attention
has been centered on current members that have yet to implement the
2007 security measures that Congress put in place. The VWP should
not have two sets of security standards; therefore, the Obama
Administration should put pressure on these countries to fulfill
these requirements.
- Pushing Congress to provide quality oversight of the VWP
program that is not based in politics but recognizes the VWP as a
valuable tool for public diplomacy, security, and prosperity. Doing
so will require Congress to thoughtfully examine the biennial
review process and ESTA requirements and progress, as well as
database quality and technological enhancements/investments.
Make Good Use of the Trip
Leaving VWP in a holding pattern only gives the impression to
VWP aspirants like Poland and Romania that they are not valued by
the U.S. Furthermore, U.S. security demands that each
Administration engage in constant information-sharing with allies,
a role that the VWP serves well. Vice President Biden should use
his time abroad to reaffirm an American commitment to Central and
Eastern Europe. And when he returns, he should take a leadership
role inside the United States--pushing the Administration and
Congress to continue VWP growth and maturation.
Helle C. Dale is Senior Fellow for Public
Diplomacy and Jena Baker McNeill is Policy Analyst for Homeland
Security in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy
Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis
Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage
Foundation.