It comes from Addis Abbeba, Ethiopia, she from Brest, Finistère. In 2018, Élodie meets Sisay in Uganda. Both were sent by the same medical association, a French NGO, to this East African country crossed by the equator, known for the wild beauty of its landscapes and its fauna.
Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia… The story of the two thirty-something is written at the rate of the missions and in contempt of the borders. But the imaginary lines of yesterday have become, 18 months later, impassable walls.
“It's been five and a half months that we haven't seen each other, calculates Élodie. We love each other, our relationship is solid, there is nothing to worry about there. But the hard part is not knowing. When can we be together again? "
In March, Sisay is in Liberia for the final days of a nine-month contract when Europe shrinks in the face of the pandemic. Just himself has time to hurry back to Ethiopia. The couple have lived separate since. He was to get married in early June.
Like him, thousands of unmarried lovers, held on both sides of the European Union, are deprived of the possibility of playing with family reunification. They are sometimes asked to apply for a tourist visa, which is impossible to obtain in time from Covid-19, which does not fall into the category of essential travel.
So in recent weeks, they have gathered behind two watchwords on social networks: "Love is not tourism", "love is not tourism", and "love is essential", "l love is "essential".
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On social networks, this blue flower trend lobbying seems to move the European Commission, pressed by these souls in trouble to open its Schengen area to half.
Sworn statement
Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson urged authorities in each member state and airlines on Thursday to "apply the broadest possible definition of the relationship".
"The partner or darling with whom the citizen or legal resident of the Union has a duly attested lasting relationship should be exempt from EU travel restrictions", she conceded.
I want to directly address and support the very committed and vocal #LoveIsEssential campaign.
I urge Member State authorities and indeed travel companies to apply as wide a definition of partnerships as possible. LoveIsNotTourism
This policy is in line with that implemented by Denmark, which allows its citizens to sign a declaration on honor in order to invite their companion to join them in the country. In Berlin, Valerio hopes to see such an outcome.
This Italian concept designer based in Germany has not seen Lili, his Mexican partner, since February. "She works for an airline so she flies easily," he rewinds. That's what we thought ... "
As the epidemic grows, the couple go from annoyance to disappointment. "Since March, it has only been a series of postponements from our reunion," laments Valerio. For a while, he watched for mid-June and the announced opening of the borders of Europe. Finally, only a part of the Schengen area countries are concerned.
"From there, I started checking the communications of the European Parliament every day to see if they were going to allow the rest of the world to enter," says the Italian. Last disappointment to date: the EU gave the green light, Tuesday, to travelers from fifteen countries. But the list excludes Mexico. “Obviously, we write each day. Still, not seeing yourself necessarily creates tensions and frustrations… ”sighs Valerio.
Adrien knows the distance well. This Brussels theater manager met his companion, an American light designer, eighteen months ago at an opera in Belgium. After returning to New York, the couple did not immediately want to settle in the same place.
Caught short
"He is an international worker and myself, my work makes me move a lot in Europe," says the thirty-something. Without a pandemic, relationships like that were entirely possible… ”The closing of the borders simply took them by surprise.
The two men had well planned to pass the confinement together. It was too late to come to Europe but, until the last moment, Adrien waited for the cancellation of the show he was working on, with the idea of taking the last plane to cross the Atlantic. "The play was canceled two days too late," he regrets.
The couple, unemployed for a few more months, are studying the possibility of finding themselves in a country open to their two citizenships. But some are intolerant of homosexuality. "For the past ten days, my day has started with a visit to all the Foreign Affairs departments to find where we could end up," says Adrien.
"I cried and I cry a lot"
From Brazil, Érika, 26, frantically taps on her keyboard at 6 a.m. She should already have moved to Poland, near Warsaw, where her fiancé Norbert is waiting. Containment, she says, "destroyed" her.
The couple met on a language learning site in 2017. From online relationship to digital friendship, they switch to a love that makes them live a little more between their two countries.
And then, in August 2019, Norbert puts his knee on the ground. Erika is scheduled to move to Poland in June 2020. The wedding is scheduled for July. This was still the case on February 10, when they left for the last time. "I cried and I cry a lot," says the Brazilian.
The couple thought well of getting married in Brazil rather than in Poland. But the country, which is experiencing a critical level of contamination, has itself postponed the reopening of its borders by thirty days on Tuesday. Unknowingly delegating the happiness of Erika and Norbert to the hands of Europe, among so many other torn couples.
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