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Canadians planning a trip to the European Union this summer may be required to get a visa if a dispute over the way Canada treats some EU citizens isn’t resolved by then.

Visas are generally used to control the flow of people into a country and to prevent unwanted visitors, and Canada exempts dozens of countries from its visa requirements, including most EU member states.

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However, Canada still requires nationals from Bulgaria and Romania — both EU members — to obtain visas before they travel here, resulting in a simmering dispute that threatens to boil over just as the summer travel season kicks into high gear.

In 2014, a reciprocity clause was included in the EU’s Schengen legislation, which allows EU members to function as a single country for international travel purposes. This clause states that visa-free access to EU countries can only be granted to citizens of a third country if that third country offers visa-free access to all EU citizens in return.