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National Post
39 minutes ago
- National Post
EU to triple travel permit fee to 20 euros
Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) — The digital travel permit for foreigners to enter the European Union should cost 20 euros ($23), almost triple the original planned fee, under a proposal published Friday. Article content The adjustment to the yet-to-be implemented ETIAS scheme for visa-exempt nationals comes as the European Commission seeks to boost its financial resources to fund an array of priorities from defence to agriculture. Article content Article content The change reflects inflation and additional operational costs, the commission said. Article content Article content 'It will also bring the cost for a travel authorisation to the EU in line with similar travel authorisation programmes,' the EU's top executive body said. Article content Adopted in 2018, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) regulation originally envisaged a fee of seven euros. Article content Britain's equivalent, known as ETA, comes with a 16 pound fee ($21), while the United States' ESTA permit costs $21. Article content Obtainable online, the European Union's ETIAS permit will be required for the bloc's 27 countries with the exception of Ireland, as well as for Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Article content The permit, valid for three years, will be required for non-EU nationals from countries whose citizens do not need a visa for short stays in Europe, such as Canada, Britain and the United States. Article content Those aged under 18 or over 70 years will be exempt from the fee. Article content Brussels said the scheme was created to identify security, irregular migration and other risks as well as to facilitate border crossing for regular travellers. Article content But its implementation, which was supposed to go hand-in-hand with a new automated border check system, has suffered from delays. Article content The European Parliament and member states have two months to review the new 20-euro fee, which will enter into effect as soon as ETIAS becomes operational — now expected for the last quarter of 2026. Article content This week the commission proposed a boosted two-trillion-euro long-term budget for 2028-2034, which has already upset some of the EU countries that will have to chip in most of the money. Article content As part of the blueprint, which is subject to negotiation, Brussels said it will seek to raise about 58 billion euros a year collecting money directly through measures like its carbon border tax and a levy on electronic waste.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
Trump's tariffs threaten to take the fizz out of Champagne's crucial U.S. market
Champagne is being poured "beer-like way," achieved by tilting the glass and gently sliding the Champagne down its inside wall into the flute (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon) VERZENAY — Champagne producers in northeastern France need to find new markets after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened 30 per cent tariffs on EU exports, the chairman of a French industry group said, suggesting Brazil, Southeast Asia and South Africa as options. The U.S. is the biggest market for champagne with 10 per cent of champagne exports by volume and 15 per cent by value and producers say the tariffs will push up prices for consumers and threaten jobs all along the supply chain, including in the United States. 'The repercussions for all family champagne exports will be severe because it will mean lost income from bottle sales, which will also affect the grape harvest quotas we will be allowed to collect,' said Stephane Vignon, whose family has been producing Champagne in Verzenay since 1946. With 70 per cent of champagne sales currently concentrated in just five countries, tariffs should push producers to seek new markets, said Maxime Toubart, chairman of industry group Comite Champagne (Champagne Committee). He said France's cognac industry, which is mainly reliant on exports to China and the U.S. where it could also face duties, provides a cautionary tale for champagne producers on the need to diversify. But replacing U.S. sales is not easy, he said. 'We can't just say we'll sell three million fewer bottles in the U.S. and put them in Japan instead. So actually, there is no alternative today to this fall in volume,' he said. Total champagne exports fell more than 10 per cent last year but rose slightly in the first four months of 2025 ahead of a 10% tariff in April, farm office France Agri Mer said. 'If tomorrow the 30% tariff is implemented, I think it will definitely impact the relationship,' said Hugo Drappier of the Drappier Champagne house. 'We've always managed to build a relationship of trust with our clients through the quality of our wines ... Let's hope that relationship isn't broken.' (Writing and additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Michaela Cabrera. Editing by Gabriel Stargardter and Sharon Singleton)
CTV News
4 hours ago
- CTV News
The EU targets Russia's energy revenue and shadow fleet with new sanctions over Ukraine war
BRUSSELS — The European Union approved on Friday a new raft of sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine, including a lower oil price cap, a ban on transactions with Nord Stream gas pipelines, and the targeting of more shadow fleet ships, the EU foreign policy chief said. 'The message is clear: Europe will not back down in its support for Ukraine. The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war,' Kaja Kallas said in a statement. Kallas said the measures amount to 'one of its strongest sanctions packages against Russia to date' linked to the war, now in its fourth year. It comes as European countries start to buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine to help the country better defend itself. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the new measures, describing them as a 'timely and necessary' step amid intensified Russian attacks. 'All infrastructure of Russia's war must be blocked,' Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine will synchronize its sanctions with the EU and introduce its own additional measures soon. The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, had proposed to lower the oil price cap from $60 to $45, which is lower than the market price to target Russia's vast energy revenues. The 27 member countries decided to set the price per barrel at just under $48. The EU had hoped to get major international powers in the Group of Seven countries involved in the price cap to broaden the impact, but conflict in the Middle East pushed up oil prices and the Trump administration could not be brought onboard. In 2023, Ukraine's Western allies limited sales of Russian oil to $60 per barrel but the price cap was largely symbolic as most of Moscow's crude — its main moneymaker — cost less than that. Still, the cap was there in case oil prices rose. Oil income is the linchpin of Russia's economy, allowing President Vladimir Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse. A new import ban was also imposed in an attempt to close a loophole allowing Russia to indirectly export crude oil via a number of non-EU countries. The EU also targeted the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany to prevent Putin from generating any revenue from them in future, notably by discouraging would-be investors. Russian energy giant Rosneft's refinery in India was hit as well. The pipelines were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany but are not in operation. They were targeted by sabotage in 2022, but the source of the underwater explosions has remained a major international mystery. On top of that, the new EU sanctions targeted Russia's banking sector, with the aim of limiting the Kremlin's ability to raise funds or carry out financial transactions. Two Chinese banks were added to the list. The EU has slapped several rounds of sanctions on Russia since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine in February 24, 2022. More than 2,400 officials and 'entities' — often government agencies, banks, companies or organizations — have been hit with asset freezes and travel bans. But each round of sanctions is getting harder to agree, as measures targeting Russia bite the economies of the 27 member nations. Slovakia held up the latest package over concerns about proposals to stop Russian gas supplies, which it relies on. The last raft of EU sanctions, imposed on May 20, targeted almost 200 ships in Russia's sanction-busting shadow fleet of tankers. On Friday, 105 more ships were blocked from European ports, locks and from ship-to-ship transfers, bringing the total number of vessels now sanctioned to more than 400. ___ Lorne Cook, The Associated Press Illia Novikov in Kyiv contributed to this report.
