BRUSSELS, Oct 18: The United States does not want a "visa war" with Europe, US officials said on Monday as they reaffirmed plans to further open access to EU travellers not currently covered by a US visa-free program.

US officials met their EU counterparts in Brussels to discuss extending the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), which currently allows nationals from 15 mostly western European members of the 25-member bloc to enter the United States without a visa.

The issue of American visas has soured relations between Washington and many of its allies - in particular Poland, which has been a strong supporter of the US-led Iraq invasion. Both Poland and the Czech Republic, which joined the European Union on May 1, have pressed in vain for visa requirements to be lifted.

US State Department advisor Susan Jacobs said that EU officials had noted in talks the option of invoking a "solidarity clause" under which an EU state could ask its partners within the bloc to require visas from US nationals.

But she said this would be a disproportionate reaction. "There shouldn't be an interest in taking it to that level. We should try to work with individual countries to help them get into the (visa waiver) program," she told reporters.

"That's moving I think in the opposite direction (from) which we need to move on this," added Daniel Sullivan, director of international enforcement at the US Department of Homeland Security.

A US embassy official meanwhile added: "There are many European countries that depend on tourism from the United States... Spain, Greece, these would be also countries that would be negatively effected by a visa war."

EU countries whose citizens still have to apply for visas include nine who joined the bloc in May: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Cyprus and Malta, as well as Greece.

The US officials could not predict when the 10 could join the visa-free program, but underlined that each country would be considered on its merits, rather than as a group.

A key condition for joining the VWP is to have a non-immigrant visitor refusal rate of less than three percent, although aspirant countries must also meet other criteria including introducing machine-readable passports.-AFP