The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen estimated this Thursday evening that
"all non-essential travel should be strongly discouraged"
,
"because of the very serious health situation"
linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read also: Covid-19: Germany does not exclude checks between EU countries in the face of the variant
The leader, however, said that it was
"of the utmost importance to continue to make the single market function"
, that is to say to continue to allow the
"fluid
transport
of essential workers and goods across borders. »
Countries within the European Union.
Regarding the external borders of the EU,
"we will propose additional security measures for essential trips to Europe, for example by requiring a test before departure"
, she added, at the end of the meeting. a videoconference summit of the 27 member states.
Variants at the heart of the EU's concerns
"We are increasingly worried about
the different variants"
of the coronavirus, admitted Ursula von der Leyen.
The European Epidemics Agency (ECDC), which raised its assessment of the health risks associated with these more contagious variants of the coronavirus (British, South African), had already called on European leaders on Thursday to be ready to take measures measures
"stricter"
in the
"coming weeks"
.
In particular, she said that
"non-essential travel should be avoided"
.
Read also: Covid-19: how the English variant upsets the forecasts
Several countries have already tightened their restrictions in recent days, such as Germany on Tuesday.
The Netherlands announced a curfew from 9 p.m. on Thursday evening, Portugal a closure of its schools.