The European Union’s frustration with the new US visa law is pal­pable. Washington has produced a measure that perpetuates a two-tier system for allowing entry into the US from EU countries, and imposes a new obligation on those with more favoured status to register their travel plans. Travellers to the US will suffer from the new restrictions, but so will the US itself.

The proposals stem from the in­dependent commission into the terrorist attacks of 2001, which reported three years ago. The intense desire to prevent another attack is understandable and explains why the measures have commanded wide political support in Washington. Yet extra security measures come at a high price, as the US has already discovered.