The EU expects tough talks with the US on visa-free travel, after Washington signed separate deals with some EU members instead of the bloc as a whole.
EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini and the bloc's Slovenian Presidency will try to iron out differences with US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, after tensions within the EU and with Washington over the visa deals.
Brussels has pressed for a blanket agreement for all EU countries not yet in the US visa waiver programme.
But some of the bloc's new member states, eager for quick visa-free travel, broke ranks and agreed to forge ahead with individual pacts.
The US wants deals with individual states and Washington signed separate deals with the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia.
These new EU members agreed to enhanced cooperation on air security in return for the prospect of a swift entry to the visa waiver programme.
This undermines EU unity on the issue and angered a number of other EU states.
Hungary expects to sign a similar deal later this month.
Most EU states are already part of the US visa waiver programme, which allows people to travel without visas.
But 11 of the 12 mostly ex-communist countries that joined the bloc in 2004 and 2007, along with older member Greece are not included.
EU diplomats agreed yesterday to defuse the intra-EU crisis on the issue by adopting a twin-track approach allowing both individual and EU talks.
